Half a million grant to develop computer experts for the future

Citation

(2001), "Half a million grant to develop computer experts for the future", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 73 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2001.12773dab.012

Half a million grant to develop computer experts for the future

Half a million grant to develop computer experts for the futureKeywords: University of Greenwich, Training, Engineering, Education

The School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences (CMS), at the University of Greenwich, UK, has won a £500,000 grant from the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), to develop a masters training package in computational science and engineering (CSE), in co-operation with industry.

Beginning in September, the new MSc course aims to develop industry-related skills and training for high calibre graduates in mathematics, science and engineering. Bursaries will be available to top candidates on a competitive basis. Professor Koulis Pericleous, Professor of Computational Fluid Dynamics says: "The growth in the number of organisations developing and accessing CSE technology has led to a dramatically increased requirement in industry for skilled people in this area. There is a glaring gap between what industry needs and what traditional undergraduate courses provide. This course will help to plug that gap enabling graduates to go on to solve real world problems".

Computational science and engineering is a rapidly growing discipline that brings together the power of computers and physics computer-based simulations of real life problems coupled to computer visualisation play a key role in scientific investigations and engineering design. The Centre for Numerical Modelling and Process Analysis – a research unit of CMS at the university – is one of the largest CSE research groups in the UK.

For over 20 years, its core activity has been the use of computers to solve complex industrial problems. The centre has attracted over £5 million in government grants and industrial sponsorship (many from overseas) since the last HEFCE Research Assessment Exercise in 1996. This success is due to the pioneering work of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, who work at this boundary of computing, science and mathematics.

The centre's direct approach to problem solving has created a portfolio of industrial partners in the UK and internationally, including Europe, the US, Australia and South East Asia. Its efforts are having a significant impact across a number of industrial sectors from aerospace to mining and from medicine to process industries. Examples include the development of a computer model for a new iron production process for Rio Tinto in Australia, fluid-structure interaction computations to model flutter on aircraft wings for the US Airforce, the development of parallel compiler tools for use on NASA super computers and many others.

For information on the new course, contact Professor Pericleous. E-mail k.pericleous@gre.ac.uk or visit http://cse.gre.ac.uk

Further details are available from University of Greenwich. Tel: +44 (0) 20 8331 8092; Fax: +44 (0) 8331 8093; E-mail courseinfo@greenwich.ac.uk; Web site: http://www.gre.ac.uk