Perspectives on Growing a Graduate Program in Computational Science

CASC Meeting, Oct. 4, 2012Terry Moore

tmoore@icl.utk.edu, Innovative Computing Laboratory, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

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Innovative Computing Laboratory

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A Computational Science Program @ UTK

Interdisciplinary Graduate Minor in

Computational Science

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A simple conception of Computational Science

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Interdisciplinary Graduate Minor

• Interdisciplinary• Digitalization and networking have encouraged

interdisciplinary activities —— breaking down silos

• Graduate • Each of the areas in the triangle has a core

curriculum• But there is no core curriculum for Computational

Science

• Minor• Complementary knowledge/skill/expertise to main area

of specialization• Goes on student’s transcript; part of the official record

Requirements for Students• General Idea: Students have a

“home” area for their major degree; IGMCS minor requires a combination of courses “outside of home.” • Masters Level: Requires 9 hours (3

courses) from IGMCS areaS. • 9 hours (3 courses) from the

different areas.• Students must take at least 3 hours

(1 course) from each of the 2 non-home areas

• Doctoral level: Requires15 hours (5 courses) from the pools. • At least 15 hours (5 courses) must be

taken outside the student’s home area.• Students must take at least 3 hours (1

course) from each of the 2 non-home areas

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Mathematicsand Statistics

ComputerAnd Information

Science

Domain Sciences

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Internship• Optional but strongly encouraged. • Students in the program can fulfill 3 hrs. of their requirement through an Internship with researchers outside the student’s major. • The internship may be taken offsite, e.g. ORNL, on campus (with a faculty member in another department), or in Industry. IGMCS students have interned at ORNL, Google, Microsoft & Intel. • Internships must have the approval of the IGMCS Program Committee.

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Machinery of our little slice ofthe Bureaucracy

Student form shows the tailored process works• Plan is

agreed to• Students

execute/Plans can change

• Results are approved

Advisor and Liaison coordinate to tailor/adapt plan for studentAll relevant

parties sign off when plan is completed

IGMCS Participating Departments

Department IGMCS Liaison Email

Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular BiologyDr. Cynthia Peterson/Dr. Harry Richards *

cbpeters@utk.edu

Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Dr. David Keffer * dkeffer@utk.edu

Chemistry Dr. Robert Hinde rhinde@utk.edu

Civil and Environmental Engineering Dr. Joshua Fu jsfu@utk.edu

Earth and Planetary Sciences Dr. Edmund Perfect eperfect@utk.edu

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Dr. Paul Armsworthp.armsworth@utk.edu

Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceDr. Jack Dongarra *Dr. Greg Peterson

dongarra@eecs.utk.edugdp@eecs.utk.edu

Genome Science & Technology Dr. Cynthia Peterson * cbpeters@utk.edu

GeographyDr. Bruce Ralston (Nicholas Nagel)

bralston@utk.edu

Information Science Dr. Devendra Potnis* dpontis@utk.edu

Materials Science and Engineering Dr. James Morris morrisj@ornl.gov

Mathematics Dr. Vasilios Alexiades * alexiades@utk.edu

Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Eng. Dr. Kivanc Ekici ekici@utk.edu

Physics Dr. Thomas Papenbrock tpapenbr@utk.edu

StatisticsDr. Hamparsum Bozdogan

bozdogan@utk.edu

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Program Administration• IGMCS Program Committee (6 to 8 people)• Subset of the Program Faculty• 1-2 representatives from each of the colleges involved• Renewable 2 year terms• Responsible for oversight: program requirements, approving

courses and department programs, student course selection, etc.

• IGMCS Faculty Liaisons• Any faculty member, assistant professor or above in rank,

nominated by department head and approved by program committee

• Responsible for updating course lists, working with department faculty, student advising student research, serving on student committees

• Administrative Support• A fraction of a person from the Center for Information Technology

Research

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How it Started

Chancellor says …

Jack, I want a Computational Science Program!

*Dec. 2004

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Problem 1: Computational Science is not well defined intellectually

This side is well understood: “In every department of physical science there is only so much science, properly so-called, as there is mathematics.”  ~Immanuel Kant

Established and familiar disciplines; sometimes controversial where they are becoming

computational

CISE disciplines are new, evolving, disruptive to traditional academic structures

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Problem 2: Disciplines that are well defined have academic turf

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How it grew• February 2005: Initial

discussion with a few departments

• May 2005: Solicited input from departments on “Certificate in Computational Science”

• June 2005: Draft material sent to all interested parties

• October 2005: First campus organizing meeting for a UTK Computational Science program

• November 2005: Graduate Dean suggests modeling after Stat’s minor: Intercollegiate Graduate Minor in Statistics (IGMS)

• December 2005: Group meets and agrees on some initial version of the plan

• February 2006: Second Group meeting

• March 2006• Subcommittee formed to

provide plan• Plan circulated and agreed

on• Dean of Graduate School

approves plan• April 2006: “Buy in” from

many parties• May 2006: Curriculum

Committee of the Graduate Council approval

• Fall 2006: Added to 2007 graduate catalogue; other departments join.

• January 2007: IGMCS enrolls its first students

Step 1: Achieve common understandingStep 2: Find a model people already understand

Some Current Stats• 30 students currently in the program• 2 new students: 1 PhD in CEE, 1 MS in INSC• 4 students received an IGMCS minor in summer 2012• 3 PhD: Chemistry, Computer Science, Civil &

Environmental Engineering, • 1 MS: Information Science

• 26 total graduates: 17 PhD, 9 MS• Instrumental in 2 IGERT awards

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Problem 3: Constant turnover of the technological base

• Everybody knows that computing power is increasing exponentially• It’s now obvious that the observational basis of science --- the data--- is revolutionizing as well• The collaborative infrastructure of science is clearly being revolutionized•What is the role of the University in the age of Khan academy?

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IGMCS life prospects

• It currently lives on a minimum of resources• Volunteer efforts from IGMCS faculty participants• Fractional administrative support from CITR, i.e.

Jack’s center

• No core curriculum… but there could be, e.g.• Essentials of programming• “Software carpentry”• Managing the digital data life cycle• Domain X for non-domain X’ers

• Considering a full-blown PhD program• Problem: Organizing for “Interdisciplnarity” means

making the walls of the silos permeable

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