60 students took part in the "Modern Computational Science" summer school, which took place at the University of Oldenburg from 9 to 20 August. They came from the USA, Slovenia, Serbia, Iran, China, Kazakhstan and Germany. "The large international participation and high motivation of the participants show that computer simulations are becoming increasingly important for science," reports Prof Dr Alexander Hartmann, Professor of Theoretical Physics, who led the summer school together with Dr Reinhard Leidl from the School V office.
Computer simulations were still an exception in the natural sciences 20 years ago. Today, they provide the basis for almost a quarter of all published research papers. Despite this, they are often neglected in science education. At the summer school, students were taught methods for implementing science on computers in seminars and lectures. The topics ranged from the basics of algorithms, data structures and statistics to current areas of application such as bioinformatics, quantum chemistry, ecosystems and flow simulations. "The computer-oriented approaches taught here are immensely important for my research," reports Zukhra Adiakhmetova, a participant from Kazakhstan. The practical exercises on computer simulations were particularly important, emphasised Kairzhan Karzhaubayev (Kazakhstan). "New methods and research results on computer simulations were taught," adds Hamid Khosbakht, student from Iran.
Katie Fletcher (USA) was particularly enthusiastic about the supporting programme: "The excursions to Norderney with a dip in the North Sea, Jever and Bremen complemented the scientific programme of the summer school perfectly."
The "Modern Computational Science" summer school was supported by the EWE Foundation.