Overview

Undergraduate

Graduate

Computational Engineering

ERC Student Association

Academic Departmental Affiliations

Why Computational Engineering?

Emergence of high-performance computing has created a third mode of scientific investigation. Computational simulation now joins theoretical analysis and physical experimentation as tools for discovering new knowledge.

This development has created the need for new curricula to meet the nation's demand for scientists and engineers with the broad understanding necessary to develop and apply these new investigative tools to scientific research and engineering design.

Such curricula must involve cross-disciplinary education to produce scientists and engineers with broad viewpoints and backgrounds, people who understand the fundamental physical principles involved in a problem of design or analysis, as well as the mathematical and computational tools required to solve it.

Mississippi State's graduate program in Computational Engineering (CmE) is unique in its approach to meeting this need. Established in 1991 and closely allied with the research programs of the High Performance Computing Collaboratory (HPC²), the curriculum is not tied to a traditional academic department, rather it is administered through the Office of the Dean of the College of Engineering and managed by the Education Coordinator of the HPC².

What is Computational Engineering?

Computational engineering encompasses the design, development, and application of computational systems for the solution of physical problems in engineering and science. These computational systems include not only the algorithms and software required for the solution of mathematical equations describing physical processes, but also the means and methods of visualizing, analyzing, and interpreting computed results and other physical data.

The Curriculum

CmE is a truly interdisciplinary curriculum. Its faculty are drawn from several engineering departments, as well as computer science, mathematics, physics, and the research faculty of the HPC². Each program of study is carefully tailored by the student's supervisory committee and is based upon the student's background, career goals, and research interests.

Although there are no specific core courses required, each student's program of study will include adequate course work in:

• computational mathematics (e.g., numerical analysis, numerical solutions to PDEs, numerical linear algebra)
• high-performance computing (e.g., parallel algorithms, software engineering, computer architecture)
• an application area from engineering or physical science (e.g., computational fluid dynamics, electromagnetics, structural analysis, hydrodynamics, geospatial modeling)

Students pursuing the PhD degree in CmE will generally earn a minimum of 60 semester hours of graduate credit beyond the bachelor's degree. Those pursuing the Master of Science are required to earn a total of 30 hours of credit, including research credits. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum, most CmE students take some prerequisite courses in subjects outside their undergraduate majors to prepare them for graduate courses. Graduates of the CmE program are well prepared for research and development positions in industry and government agencies, as well as for careers in university teaching and research.

Admission Requirements

Students are accepted into the program with undergraduate degrees in engineering, as well as mathematics, computer science, and the physical sciences. Regular admission requires that the student meet the general admission requirements for Graduate Studies at MSU, receive a positive recommendation from the Computational Engineering screening committee, and be accepted as a student by a member of the Computational Engineering graduate faculty. International students must have scored at least 550 on the paper-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), or 213 on the computer-based test. All applicants are encouraged to submit scores for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as part of their application packet.

Financial Support

Virtually all students in Computational Engineering receive financial support through graduate research assistantships. This is because one of the requirements for admission to the program is that an applicant be accepted by a member of the CmE faculty into a research project in the HPC².

Research Facilities

The High Performance Computing Collaboratory (HPC²) at MSU, founded by the National Science Foundation in 1990, is a premier institute for the advancement of computational engineering. Its resources in computing facilities and computational expertise are internationally recognized. The HPC² occupies a 44,000-square-foot building, which will be more than doubled in size in the near future. Graduate students who pursue their studies within the HPC² have access to one of the finest research facilities of its kind in the world. The HPC² houses a desktop infrastructure of general-purpose workstations and high performance servers. All faculty, staff, and graduate students have offices in the building. A high-end workstation is placed on each graduate student's desk in a private cubicle. High-performance computing needs are served by supercomputer-class "superclusters" which are constantly being expanded.

Additional research facilities are available at the NASA-Stennis Space Center branch of the HPC² on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Deadlines

To be considered for admission all supporting materials must be submitted to the MSU Office of Admissions according to the following schedule:

To apply online or obtain admission forms, please visit the Mississippi State University Office of Admissions and Scholarships website.

For further information contact:

Education Coordinator
Mississippi State University
HPC Building
Box 9627
Mississippi State, MS 39762
edu-coordinator@HPC.MsState.Edu
voice: 662-325-8278
fax: 662-325-7692
http://www.hpc.msstate.edu/