Summer School for Integrated Computational Materials Education

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This award made on an EAGER proposal supports a novel pilot summer school project designed to help integrate computation in Materials Science and Engineering Departments across the Nation. The Summer School for Integrated Computational Materials Education will be designed to rapidly increase the incorporation of computational materials science to those universities that lack the resources to implement them on their own, including primarily teaching universities. It will train future instructors who are capable of introducing CMSE to undergraduate students. The Summer School will train graduate students who are interested in but not necessarily familiar with computational approaches, allowing them additional tools in pursuing their materials research. Therefore, the Summer School will have impact on both undergraduate and graduate education.Computational approaches have transformed many scientific and engineering disciplines in the last decade. They are beginning to produce widespread impact in the design and development of new materials. A recent survey performed and published in JOM - the journal of the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society, as well as the National Academy of Engineering Report, "Integrated Computational Materials Engineering: A Transformational Discipline for Improved Competitiveness and National Security" indicate the need for integration of computational techniques into undergraduate Materials Science and Engineering curricula. To address the challenges in this integration, the PIs will design and organize a pilot program of "Summer School for Integrated Computational Materials Education," which will be a two-week program that includes a "crash course" on computational materials science and engineering and focus sessions on educational modules that can be adopted into existing core courses. The PIs will target the introduction of computational tools into undergraduate-level thermodynamics course. Successful participants in the program, Fellows, will be ambassadors of computational materials science and engineering; they will teach segments of the thermodynamics course using the modules and methods presented in the Summer School. The PI will build a strong team consisting of professors, software developers, and industrial researchers. The summer school will also include advanced topics from the forefront of computational materials research, which provides a forum for dissemination of state-of-the-art research. The participants will learn about computational tools that could be incorporated into their research. The Summer School will also provide a case study for a method for transforming undergraduate education to embrace technology in a STEM subject.This EAGER award has potential for high impact on an important problem and to transform the field of materials science and engineering.