CRASH: Lab Interaction & Education Programs An Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Predictive Science

1. CRASH: Lab Interaction & Education ProgramsAn Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Predictive Science James Paul Holloway UM CRASH Team

2. Interactions • Research collaborations with NNSA scientists • Over 110 papers with NNSA lab coauthors in last 10 years • Place students at the labs • Pipeline of students to the labs • Over 25 to NNSA labs from CRASH investigators • Over 80 from UM Nuclear Engineering alone to NNSA labs

3. Education Program Overview • Our design based on two successful existing programs at Michigan • Program includes a “2+3” funding model and a core curriculum • Program also includes a lab stay during the student’s PhD studies • Goal of 16 students in the program in the fifth year • Michigan has committed 160K/yr in cost-sharing to this degree program • Expectation of involvement of a broad base of students doing predictive science, not just those in radiative hydrodynamics

4. A Model Existing Program - Applied Physics • Address quickening pace of development at the frontier between physics and engineering • Mechanism for interdisciplinary training and research not readily accommodated by traditional graduate programs • Solid base in fundamental physics, while exploring applications in various branches of engineering • Top-notch students recruited from undergraduate programs worldwide • Students awarded 2 years fellowship funding: • Coursework in core math and physics subjects • Advanced electives related to their area of specialization • Begin research

5. Another Model Existing Program - Scientific Computing • Any doctoral student at Michigan can add “and Scientific Computing” to their degree name • Doctoral thesis and doctoral committee composition must reflect an emphasis on scientific computing • Coursework must include • At least three computer science courses • At least three numerical methods courses • More than 60 PhDs from 10 departments have completed the program • 15 have received DoE computational science graduate fellowships • Many are working at government labs now

6. Scientific Computing (cont’d) • Where some students went and what they did • LLNL/CASC, computational fluid & plasma (Hittinger) • LANL, radiation hydrodynamics (Lowrie) • NCAR, climate modeling (Jablonowski) • LLNL/CASC, computational wave propagation (Gunney) • Case Western, tissue engineering (Shea) • LANL, geophysical fluid dynamics (Wingate) • LANL, radiation transport (Urbatsch, Wareing) • SNL, high-energy-density physics (Hanshaw)

7. New Predictive Science and Engineering PhD • Recruitment model of Applied Physics - recruit top students from undergraduate programs worldwide • Funding model of Applied Physics - two years internal funding while students get required background, after which students transition to a funded research group • Flexibility of Scientific Computing Program - students can receive their degree from any doctoral program at Michigan (their “home department”) • Lab stay requirement of Scientific Computing Program

8. New Predictive Science and Engineering PhD • Strong core curriculum tailored to predictive science • Software engineering • Parallel computing • Numerical methods and analysis • Probability and statistics • Capstone course in predictive science • Implement as a thread within the Scientific Computing PhD program

9. Capstone – Predictive Science & Engineering • Developed by CRASH investigators • Prerequisites: earlier core courses in software engineering, numerical analysis, probability and statistics • Course topics include • Code verification and validation • Uncertainty quantification in experiments and codes • Assessment of predictive capabilities of codes • Team project • Apply to student’s own research

10. Rollout of the Program • Initial students in program would be those associated with the Center for Radiative Shock Hydrodynamics • Initial home departments would include Aero, Space Sciences, Computer Science, Materials Science, and Nuclear Engineering • Substantial fraction of cost-sharing funds for the Center would be used to support the two-year fellowships • Ultimately expand the program to include other home departments and research groups

11. Milestones for the Program • AY 2008 - Develop and distribute materials to publicize program • AY 2009 - Recruit first cohort of at least 4 students into program, develop capstone course • AY 2010 - Recruit second cohort of at least 4 students into program, establish first offering of capstone course • AY 2011 - Recruit third cohort of at least 4 students into program, transition first cohort to research grants • AY 2012 - Recruit fourth cohort of at least 4 students into program, transition second cohort to research grants

12. Students as of Summer 2008 • 12 students, from four departments • Aerospace Engineering • Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences • Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences • Applied Physics • Range from first-year to fourth-year doctoral candidates • Bi-weekly meetings to get exposed to scope of Center research • Have begun short course on Bayesian methods for predictive science, videocast from Texas A&M

13. Thank You

14. Applied Physics (cont’d) • Core curriculum • E&M I&II • Quantum Mechanics I&II • Statistical Physics • Computational Math • Condensed Matter • Where some students went and what they did • Duke, nanomaterials (Stiff-Roberts) • NRL, semiconductors (Brown) • LBNL, radiation detection (Amman) • NIST, quantum physics (Cundiff) • Howard, lasers (Walton) • NASA Glenn, plasma science (Foster)