Computation across the curriculum: What skills are needed?

TL;DR

This paper investigates the skills needed for computational proficiency in undergraduate physics education by analyzing industry and academic perspectives through interviews and a mini-conference.

Contribution

It provides insights into the skills development process and identifies essential computational skills for undergraduate physics students based on stakeholder interviews.

Findings

Participants developed skills through hands-on experience and mentorship.

Essential skills include programming, data analysis, and simulation.

Perceived gaps in current curricula for computational training.

Abstract

Computation, the use of a computer to solve, simulate, or visualize a physical problem, has revolutionized how physics research is done. Computation is used widely to model systems, to simulate experiments, and to analyze data. Yet, in most undergraduate programs, students have little formal opportunity to engage with computation and, thus, are left to their own to develop their computational expertise. As part of a larger project to study how computation is incorporated in some undergraduate physics programs (and how it might be incorporated further), we convened a mini-conference and conducted a series of interviews with industry professionals, academic faculty, and employed bachelor's graduates who make use of computation in their everyday work. We present preliminary results that speak to how participants developed the requisite skills to do professional computational work and what skills they perceive are necessary to conduct such work.