Summary of "Graduate Education for Computational Science and Engineering" article

Computational science and engineering (CSE) is an emerging multidisciplinary 
area that integrates applied mathematics, computer science, engineering, and 
the sciences.  Computational methods are used to study natural phenomena and 
complex structures that would be very difficult or even impossible to study 
using traditional practices.  The main focus of CSE is the integration of the 
different disciplines, rather than each taken by themselves.  Computational 
simulations and models have become an essential component of scientific 
research.  They have been traditionally used for qualitative analysis, but 
lately have been used more and more in a quantitative manner.  Example real 
world applications of computational modeling include climate prediction, 
combustion, nuclear weapons management, simulation and design of vehicles, 
aircraft design, and design of electronics.  They are also crucial for 
developing models and analyzing experimental data in areas such as biology and 
medicine, genomics, chemistry, materials research, and bioengineering.  These 
models may be used to predict properties of a complex substance or show 
correlations between a molecule's structure and its activity.  Studies have 
shown that the combination of simulation and experiment is much more effective 
than experiment alone.  Besides taking core courses in mathematics and 
computer science, a CSE student is also required to specialize in an 
application area in engineering or science, such as physics, astronomy, 
bioengineering, quantum mechanics, or molecular biology.  There are generally 
two different organizations of a CSE degree program.  In the first, a student 
is awarded a degree in CSE itself.  In the second, a student is awarded a 
degree in a traditional field such as mathematics or computer science, and has 
a specialization area in CSE.  Three possible ways of enhancing this type of 
interdisciplinary education are by including projects and presentations in the 
course work, becoming part of a multidisciplinary research team, or holding an 
internship at a lab or in industry.  The main goal of CSE is to not only train 
a student in general methods of computation and theory, but also in an area of 
application where that computation is used.