REU Site: High Performance Computing (HPC) Tools, Techniques, and Research across the Physical Sciences

Temple University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

Undergraduate research is an integral part of the educational experience in the College of Science and Technology at Temple University. Participation in undergraduate research not only builds self-confidence in the participants but it also increases retention and graduation rates. Temple University is Philadelphia’s public research university. Accordingly, its rise to Carnegie R1 status as a doctoral university with very high research activity brings a special responsibility to provide access to undergraduate research experiences for students from typically underrepresented and underserved segments of society. Specifically, this project will allow ten students per year from two-year colleges, liberal arts colleges, and historically black colleges and universities, who do not have access to the undergraduate research, to experience the excitement and vibrant atmosphere of a top research university. In doing so, this project will not only advance fundamental research but importantly, it will also benefit society at large by contributing to the training of a diverse technical workforce that is better prepared to enter the fields, which impact the future health, prosperity, and security of the nation. Notably, this project will emphasize research that employs computers to advance the fields of chemistry and physics, which are the core disciplines that underpin key industries such as pharmaceuticals and medicine, electronics and telecommunication, automobiles and transportation, and advanced materials. Scientific computation has become a mainstay of modern research in the sciences. Many undergraduates today have taken introductory courses in programming, but it is rare for those courses to transition into an undergraduate research experience effectively. This project will create a bridge for the participants, while they are immersed in a high-quality undergraduate research experience, focusing on the applications of high-performance computing. The College of Science and Technology at Temple University is populated by world-class faculty who rely heavily on modern computational techniques in their research. The project mentors have been selected based on their expertise, as partially measured by their citation impact, and their experience as a mentor. Targeted students, recruited locally, regionally, and nationally, will be those with a budding interest in graduate study. Ten underrepresented undergraduate students each summer will learn high-performance computing techniques, collaborate to build a cluster, and complete independent research projects that include studying how proteins fold, designing therapeutics for specific protein targets, modeling the electrical response of materials, probing the properties of macromolecules and polymers via molecular dynamics computer simulations, using machine learning to fit computational models, and exploring the nature of nuclear matter. Notably, participants will experience an integrated program of professional development, research ethics, and effective communication, which are highly-valued and necessary skills for future success. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.