Research and Education in Computational Science and Engineering

TL;DR

This paper reviews the rapid growth of computational science and engineering (CSE), highlighting its impact across disciplines, recent challenges due to technological complexity, and proposing future research and educational strategies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of CSE's evolution, current challenges, and strategic directions for research and education in the next decade.

Findings

CSE has become central to scientific and engineering discovery.

Emerging challenges include architectural complexity and data revolution.

Strategic directions are proposed for future CSE research and education.

Abstract

Over the past two decades the field of computational science and engineering (CSE) has penetrated both basic and applied research in academia, industry, and laboratories to advance discovery, optimize systems, support decision-makers, and educate the scientific and engineering workforce. Informed by centuries of theory and experiment, CSE performs computational experiments to answer questions that neither theory nor experiment alone is equipped to answer. CSE provides scientists and engineers of all persuasions with algorithmic inventions and software systems that transcend disciplines and scales. Carried on a wave of digital technology, CSE brings the power of parallelism to bear on troves of data. Mathematics-based advanced computing has become a prevalent means of discovery and innovation in essentially all areas of science, engineering, technology, and society; and the CSE community is at the core of this transformation. However, a combination of disruptive developments---including the architectural complexity of extreme-scale computing, the data revolution that engulfs the planet, and the specialization required to follow the applications to new frontiers---is redefining the scope and reach of the CSE endeavor. This report describes the rapid expansion of CSE and the challenges to sustaining its bold advances. The report also presents strategies and directions for CSE research and education for the next decade.