Overview of An International Assessment of Research and Development in Simulation-Based Engineering and Science

The use of computer simulation in engineering systems began many decades ago. Only in the last decade or so has it become an essential scientific methodology for research and education in nearly all areas of engineering and in many branches of science. There are several reasons for this remarkable progress. First, and perhaps foremost, is the steady advances in computational science that made it possible to vastly extend the range and depth of applications of simulation as a key methodology. Second, in nearly all areas of engineering and science, computer simulation has enabled the study and prediction of physical events, as an extension of theoretical investigations. In many cases, it also provides a powerful alternative to experimental science when phenomena are not observable or measurements are impractical, impossible, or too expensive. A third reason is the rapid advances in computer and networking technologies and their associated software innovations that have allowed simulation to become a powerful and ubiquitous tool for engineers and scientists. Supercomputing at teraflop/s levels is now readily available at the desktop, either as a dedicated simulation tool or as a shared facility via a high-speed network for collaborative research among researchers at a distance. New, emerging developments in computing, networking, and data storage promise to further revolutionize how simulation-based engineering and science (SBE&S) will be done in the future. A number of US funding agencies (the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology) have funded an international study of SBE&S activities worldwide to compare with efforts in the US. The foci of the study include: What is the position of foreign R&D in SBE&S relative to the United States? What are the barriers and gaps of research in SBE&S we can learn from activities overseas? What are the major innovations and emerging ideas that are worth exploring here in the United States? What are the opportunities for international collaboration to tackle greater technical challenges by combining complementary resources and strengths? In this session, panelists from the study (profiled at http://www.wtec.org/sbes) will report on the findings from the study, and outline plans for future workshops and possible funding initiatives related to SBE&S.