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

本科生研究是天普大学科技学院教育经历的一个组成部分。参与本科生研究不仅能建立参与者的自信心，还能提高留校率和毕业率。天普大学是费城的公立研究型大学。因此，作为一所研究活动非常活跃的博士级大学，它的崛起带来了一种特殊的责任，即为来自典型的代表性不足和服务不足的社会群体的学生提供获得本科研究经验的机会。具体来说，该项目将让每年10名无法获得本科研究机会的两年制大学、文理学院、传统黑人大学的学生体验顶尖研究型大学的兴奋和充满活力的氛围。通过这样做，该项目不仅将推进基础研究，而且重要的是，它还将通过促进培训多样化的技术劳动力，使其更好地准备进入影响国家未来健康、繁荣和安全的领域，从而使整个社会受益。值得注意的是，该项目将强调利用计算机推进化学和物理领域的研究，这些领域是支撑制药和医药、电子和电信、汽车和运输以及先进材料等关键行业的核心学科。科学计算已成为现代科学研究的支柱。如今，许多本科生都学过编程入门课程，但这些课程很少能有效地转化为本科生的研究经验。这个项目将为参与者搭建一座桥梁，让他们沉浸在高质量的本科研究体验中，专注于高性能计算的应用。天普大学科技学院拥有世界一流的教师，他们在研究中严重依赖现代计算技术。项目导师是根据他们的专业知识选择的，部分衡量标准是他们的引用影响，以及他们作为导师的经验。在当地、地区和全国范围内招收的目标学生将是那些对研究生学习有兴趣的人。每年夏天，十名未被充分代表的本科生将学习高性能计算技术，合作建立一个集群，并完成独立的研究项目，包括研究蛋白质如何折叠，设计特定蛋白质靶点的治疗方法，模拟材料的电响应，通过分子动力学计算机模拟探测大分子和聚合物的特性，使用机器学习来拟合计算模型，探索核物质的本质。值得注意的是，参与者将体验到专业发展，研究伦理和有效沟通的综合计划，这些都是未来成功的高度重视和必要的技能。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.