Applied Science

The Department of Applied Science of the College of Engineering has had a long and distinguished tradition of computational science, built largely around the computational facilities of LLNL and LBNL. Nearly 40% of the Department's graduates have specialized in computational physics, and their training in massively parallel techniques for computation of ``real-life'' problems (like weather prediction, biology, material damage, crack formation, etc.) has been superb. The Department's students have no problem finding positions after graduation. To further this end, the Department voted several years ago to initiate a search for more top-notch faculty in this area. To the Department's delight, the Department succeeded in recruiting two of the best computational physicists in the country in the range of first-level full professor this year (1999). These two candidates were aggressively sought after by LLNL and LBNL and will take half-time appointments at these national laboratories. This year's entering class of graduate students is fully 50% interested in computational science. In addition, our efforts in computer media and communications, which involve Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering, bring Applied Science squarely into the center of the Engineering College's computational efforts.