Education for Computational Science and Engineering

Computational science and engineering (CSE) has been misunderstood to advance with the construction of enormous computers. To the contrary, the historical record demonstrates that innovations in CSE come from im-provements to the mathematics embodied by computer programs. Whether scientists and engineers become inventors who make these breakthroughs de-pends on circumstances and the interdisciplinary extent of their educations. The USA currently has the largest CSE professorate, but the data suggest this prominence is ephemeral. Computational science and engineering (CSE) embodies the challenges in Pres-ident Obama’s vision of the future, “ours to win ” [1]. Wealthy nations with com-parable scientific institutions can achieve parity in technical prowess. When coun-tries have have similar populations of technical professionals, one way to excel is to make better use of expert talent through computing. Research and development (R&D) proceeds more quickly and with greater certainty by using computers to analyze information and to pursue the implications of scientific theories. The preceding “elevator speech ” has been heard in Washington before.1 From “NSF Plans Help with Big Computer Problems ” [2] in 1985, through “Energy Labs Urged to Boost Supercomputing Capability ” [3] in 1997, to “An Endless Frontier Postponed ” [4] in 2005, CSE has been used to justify the purchase of massive com-puters — and is being used again, in President Obama’s budget. To the contrary, the fastest computers are irrelevant to the innovations in CSE that bettered peoples’ lives and transformed how R&D is done. The breakthroughs in CSE are the mathematical programs of computing, not the machines themselves. President Obama misunderstood the “Sputnik moment” when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) built “the world’s fastest computer.