Introduction to the Education Center on Computational Science & Engineering 
Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Economics
FS 108   SDSU - 3/12/98

What is the mission of the EC/CSE?

Foster the incorporation of high performance research tools for scientific investigation into the undergraduate curriculum to better prepare learners for post-Baccalaureate activities where

• collaborative, interdisciplinary teams,
• sophisticated computer tools, and
• effective communication among the team members and with others

are used in research and problem solving.

Overview of the National Partnership for Advanced Computing Infrastructure:

NPACI (www.npaci.edu/Partners/partner.html) is an association of 39 universities and research centers from 18 states, with SDSC as the leading edge site. The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) conducts and supports activities in computational science, a third fundamental method for conducting scientific research (in addition to laboratory experimentation and theoretical investigation). Computational Science is defined as using computers (in this context, high performance computers) and related computing technologies (such as applications software, high speed networking, scientific visualization technologies, and large data storage systems) to visualize, analyze, and simulate natural and social phenomena.

Examples of projects underway at the EC/CSE Short descriptions

• Java and VRML resources for scientists and engineers (Xiangwei Li, Wai Lee, Phil Deacon, Jason Tate, Amde Mitiku)
• Java-based instructional interface and analytical extension for Protein Data Base (PDB) developed at SDSC (Deacon)
• Testbed for distance learning collaboratory techniques [Tango, NetMeeting, Habanero, ...]. (X. Li)
• "Virtual Professor" Distance Learning in computationally intensive courses (I. Zaslavsky)
Collaboratory use of GIS over the Internet in instruction (together with NPAC - Syracuse, Dr. Geoffrey Fox), and the experiment in distance teaching of GIS and spatial analysis (EC/CSE, SDSU  to Geography, WMU)
• Web-Based Interactive Environment
• Related URLs for Geography presentation
• Group learning in Supercomputing instruction: (K. Stewart)
• Problem-based learning in computational programming instruction. (K. Stewart)

vBNS

vBNS proposal coordinated by CSU Chancellor's office. Participatation by SDSU, CalPoly Pomona, and CSU/SB within the CSU (just granted by NSF!). Information meeting tomorrow at the Ed.Center, 11am.

Special topic: GIS in economics research and instruction

Geographic Information System: a system of hardware, software, data, people, organizations and institutional arrangements for collecting, storing, analyzing, and disseminating information about areas of the earth. SDSU has site license for ArcView, a popular GIS.
Some possible economics applications of GIS:  a short demo

• Regional economics, economic geography
• census mapping
• Russia's course of reform; and income stratification, by regions
• Economics of natural resources, ecology, environmental impact; spatial econometrics
• raster imagery; land suitability analysis; EIS, connecting SPSS (or S-Plus, or Matlab, etc.) to ArcView
• Transportation analysis
• Network analysis with ArcView
• Economics of externalities, urban economics, land use change, growth management

Other useful tools we can assist with:

• Virtual Reality Modeling Language - VRML (look at this portion of Barry Co., MI, in 3-D)
• simulation modeling with Stella, iThink, Matlab Simulink. An example of simulation modeling of urban dynamics.
• 3D visualization of US economic history (Bernard Pailthorpe, Sydney Vislab/SDSC, and Richard Carson, University of California, San Diego/SDSC)

The suggested mechanism of collaboration with CSU faculty

• The Education Center staff (Dr. Kris Stewart, Dr. Ilya Zaslavsky and Ms. Dolores Candelario) have prepared descriptions of the opportunities that SDSC and the NPACI offer to the nation, with a focus on identifying opportunities to enhance undergraduate education (accessible from Ed. Center web pages)
• Regular reviews of NPACI and SDSC research and resources are published online at NPACI Online and enVision (formerly Gather/Scatter). For the article in the "Challenges for a New Century" [Fall '97] Education, Outreach and Training
• The NPACI "all-hands" meeting (early January'98)  brought together all NPACI partners, to identify collaborations between institutions in both research and outreach activities, in particular focused on molecular biology, neurosciences, collaborative environments, etc.
• The presentations and workshops can be followed by individual collaboration with faculty on selected projects related to undergraduate teaching. To date, we have presented at the CSU GIS Committee meeting (in addition to numerous presentations at SDSU), and to CSU Math and Computer Science Chairs meeting; we are scheduled to present to Social Science Research Instructional Council (SSRIC). We have also presented to SDSU departments of Biology , Geology, and Math & Computer Science
• Graduate and undergraduate student assistants are available to help faculty and their instructional support staff with educational projects related to high-performance computing in the undergraduate curriculum.

Examples of collaborations already formed by EC/CSE

• NPACI partnership "contract" with the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH), NPACI partner in Virginia
• NSF proposal by Doug Deutschman (SDSU Biology), on chaparral ecosystem simulation modeling and visualization with the SORTIE-like model (with interfaces tuned to student exploration, in particular) - involves EC/CSE (January 1998)
• Industrial partnership with Mathworks (MATLAB, which now has MapTools) (November 1997)
• National Endowment for the Humanities proposal with Dr. Bob Hoffman (SDSU Ed Tech) on using VRML to simulate the California mission so that 4th grade students can become docents of the mission and conduct virtual tours. (October 1997)
• EC/CSE was client in SDSU's ET 644 Instructional Design course (Roxanna Springer & Lance Larson) (Fall 1997); the methodology of "bridging environments" for high performance computing instruction is further explored in CS205 "Computational programming and visualization" taught by Stewart this Spring

Computer time at SDSC

Computer time is available from the remaining SDSU Block Grant of time on the Cray T90 (vector supercomputer) and Cray T3E (parallel supercomputer). This can be obtained by submitting a short application (www.rohan.sdsu.edu/0520Cray.pdf) designed for start-up investigations (maximum 5 hours of Cray T90 time). October 1 signaled the start of NPACI and no new time will be allocated to the SDSU Block Grant. NPACI Resources are allocated quarterly. Education applications are looked upon favorably when on an appropriate platform; research applications are peer-reviewed. A first time, 50 hour allocation, can be obtained through the expedited review process, submitted anytime. Information about us:

• Web site: ../index.html
• CSU Newsletter "Exchanges"
• NPACI Online
• SDSU "Weekly"

What can the EC/CSE do for you?