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Real-World Contributions from Scientific Computing

© Adam Hughes

One of the most distinct memories of my life came during our family Christmas get-together about five years ago. I had been in graduate school for about three months, and I was really taken with the idea of using my math and chemistry background in conjunction with the University's powerful computers to simulate chemical systems. I had grand visions of labs filled with computers, researchers solving the world's problems from their keyboards. It was plainly obvious to me that I had chosen to pursue a very noble and exciting profession. It also quickly became obvious to me that not everyone, even in my own family, valued the potential of this field as much as I did.

Indeed, as wondered toward the party spread on the kitchen table, my aunt (by marriage), cornered me and began asking about grad school. She had just returned to college after several years of marriage and two children, and I guess she felt a certain connection because we were both "in school". As I proceeded to explain to her that I spent most of my time writing computer code for the purpose of simulating systems of atoms and molecules, I could see the smirk building on her face. And then she let loose with her biting commentary, the likes of which I have heard many times since : "What good does THAT do anyone?!?!?". I gave some quick answer about calculations being able to support experimental studies, but I have to admit that I felt a little like the king whose paper castle had just been rained on.

This little episode planted a small seed of doubt in my mind at the time, but it also led me to start thinking about the true significance of computational studies to real-world problems. While those of us involved in such fields generally do it because we love the physics and symbols and computers and the combination of them all, it is frequently important that we can go beyond our pure love of the sciences. At various times, funding issues, collaborative opportunities, and even our own sense of self-worth dictate that our work has an impact on some facet of life and society beyond the magic black box of the computer.

Because this series of articles has focused largely on the machines and methods used in scientific computing, I think it's time to show how some of these technologies are being used to produce results that are meaningful in the real world. During the next several weeks, I'm going to focus on what some of the researchers on the cutting edge of scientific computing are up to, and the impact

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