EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Computational Methods for Materials Science

摩尔定律指出，微芯片上的活性元件数量每18个月翻一番。这一定律的变体可以应用于计算机性能的许多衡量标准，如内存和硬盘容量，以及计算成本的降低。值得注意的是，摩尔定律已经应用了50多年，在此期间，计算机速度增加了10亿倍以上！通过计算机、互联网和智能手机和平板电脑等便携式电子设备的广泛使用，计算能力的显着崛起以深刻的方式影响了我们所有人的生活。不幸的是，摩尔定律并不是自然界的基本定律，保持这种非凡的进步速度需要不断的努力工作和对新技术的投资，其中大部分与我们对材料性质的理解和控制能力的进步有关。计算机软件在提高计算性能方面起着重要作用，在许多情况下，人们发现，计算性能每增加10倍，除了通过更快的硬件实现的性能之外，改进的软件还将计算性能提高了100倍。此外，改进的软件对于扩大可以通过计算研究的物理性质和过程的范围也是必不可少的。我们的EPSRC材料科学计算方法博士培训中心旨在提供数值方法和现代软件开发技术的培训，以便CDT的学生能够开发创新的新软件，例如，帮助设计新材料并了解材料中发生的复杂过程。英国，特别是剑桥，自最早的可编程计算机以来，一直是软件和硬件的先驱，通过这项战略投资，我们的目标是确保这种领先优势在未来保持下去。

Moore's Law states that the number of active components on an microchip doubles every 18 months. Variants of this Law can be applied to many measures of computer performance, such as memory and hard disk capacity, and to reductions in the cost of computations. Remarkably, Moore's Law has applied for over 50 years during which time computer speeds have increased by a factor of more than 1 billion! This remarkable rise of computational power has affected all of our lives in profound ways, through the widespread usage of computers, the internet and portable electronic devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately, Moore's Law is not a fundamental law of nature, and sustaining this extraordinary rate of progress requires continuous hard work and investment in new technologies most of which relate to advances in our understanding and ability to control the properties of materials.Computer software plays an important role in enhancing computational performance and in many cases it has been found that for every factor of 10 increase in computational performance achieved by faster hardware, improved software has further increased computational performance by a factor of 100. Furthermore, improved software is also essential for extending the range of physical properties and processes which can be studied computationally. Our EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Computational Methods for Materials Science aims to provide training in numerical methods and modern software development techniques so that the students in the CDT are capable of developing innovative new software which can be used, for instance, to help design new materials and understand the complex processes that occur in materials. The UK, and in particular Cambridge, has been a pioneer in both software and hardware since the earliest programmable computers, and through this strategic investment we aim to ensure that this lead is sustained well into the future.