March Meeting Deadlines Are Approaching

Dear DCOMP,

It is time to think about the March Meeting!  We have an exciting and broad list of computational physics focus topics and sorting categories, see below for a list.

The deadline for submitting your contributed talk is Friday, November 11.  Consider contributing to a DCOMP inspired session and attending the focus sessions!

To give you a taste of the focus sessions, check out "What is Computational Physics?"
You are encouraged to contribute talks in a broad range of topics  - everything from advanced resources and methods for research,  to curricula,  to funding and administrative issues, to ... well ...  own ideas of "what is comp physics?"  The invited speakers are Thom Dunning, director of the Institute for Advanced Computing and Applications at NCSA and Nora Sabelli, senior consultant at the Center for Technology and Learning at SRI and co-PI of an NSF funded center on Science of Learning.

Further details are available on the APS March Meeting website http://www.aps.org/meetings/march/.




COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS FOCUS TOPICS:

16.1.1 Computational Frontiers in Quantum Spin Systems
16.1.2 Modeling of Rare Events
16.1.3 What is Computational Physic? Advances in Research, Education, and Policy
16.1.4 Friction, Fracture and Deformation Across Length Scales (DCOMP/GSNP)
16.1.5 Multiscale Modeling (DCOMP/DMP) [same as 03.1.7]
16.1.6 Simulations of Matter at Extreme Conditions (DCOMP/DMP/GSCCM)
16.1.7 Non-Adiabatic Dynamics in Irradiated Materials (DCOMP/DMP)
16.1.8 Dielectric, Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Oxides (DMP/DCOMP) [same as 07.1.1 and 11.1.1]
16.1.9 Fe-based Superconductors and Related Compounds: Synthesis, Characterization, and Modeling (DMP/DCOMP) [same as 09.1.1]
16.1.10 Computational Design of New Materials (DMP/DCOMP) [same as 12.1.6]
16.1.11 Physics of Energy Storage Materials (DMP/GERA/FIAP/DCOMP) [same as 23.1.4 and 22.1.3]
16.1.12 Frontiers in Computational Thermodynamics of Materials (FIAP/DCOMP) [same as 23.1.5]
16.1.13 Spin Glasses: Advances, Algorithms and Applications (GSNP/DCOMP) [same as 03.1.4]
16.1.14 Physics of Proteins I: Structure and Folding (DBIO/DPOLY/DCOMP) [same as 04.1.1 and 01.1.27]
16.1.15 Single-Molecule Biological Physics I: Nucleic Acids (DBIO/DPOLY/DCOMP) [same as 01.1.22 and 04.1.4]
16.1.16 Single-Molecule Biological Physics II: Proteins (DBIO/DPOLY/DCOMP) [same as 04.1.5 and 01.1.23]
16.1.17 Structure and Dynamics of Membranes (DBIO/DPOLY/DMP/DCOMP) [same as 01.1.25 and 04.1.10]

COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS STANDARD SORTING CATEGORIES:

16.2 Electronic Structure
16.3 Classical Many-particle Systems
16.4 Quantum Many-particle Systems
16.5 Astrophysics, Relativity, Fluid Dynamics, and Plasma Physics
16.6 New Technologies in Hardware or Software and their Application
16.7 High-Pressure Physics (DCMP/DCOMP)
16.8 Equations of State & Phase Transitions (DMP/DCOMP) [same as 18.1]

PHYSICS EDUCATION FOCUS TOPICS OF POSSIBLE COMPUTATIONAL INTEREST ... 

24.1.1 Research Collaboration Between Mentors and Undergraduate Students (FEd/SPS) [same as 25.1.1]

PHYSICS EDUCATION STANDARD SORTING CATEGORIES OF POSSIBLE COMPUTATIONAL  INTEREST ... 

24.5 Undergraduate Education (For undergraduate research, see 25.2)
24.6 Graduate Education

 

NSF DMR Committee of Visitors Report from Alan Dorsey

On behalf of Alan Dorsey

Dear Colleagues,

At the DCMP/DMP Joint Executive Committee meeting in Dallas, you

may recall that Ian Robertson, the new Director of the NSF's Division of

Materials Research, mentioned that DMR was reviewed by a Committee of

Visitors (COV) in February 2011. Both Barbara and I served on the COV, but we were

unable to discuss the committee's findings until the report was publicly

released. The COV report, and the response from the NSF, are now available on the

NSF website; see

http://www.nsf.gov/events/event_summ.jsp?cntn_id=118193&org=NSF,

and then

http://www.nsf.gov/attachments/118193/public/2011_NSF_COV_Report_Final.pdf

http://www.nsf.gov/attachments/118193/public/COV-MPS_Response_2011.pdf

I thought this might be of interest to the DCMP Executive Committee

and Members at Large.

Best,

Alan

VI Brazilian meeting on Simulation Physics

The VI Brazilian Meeting on Simulation Physics will be held in Cuiaba, Brazil from August 2-6, 2011 at the famous "Patanal" wildlife region.  For information about the meeting and the beautiful Pantanal region  see www.fisica.ufmt.br/bmsp/.

CCP 2011 - Conference on Computational Physics

Registration and abstract submission are now open for the 2011 Conference on Computational Physics, which will be held October 30th - November 3rd, 2011 in Gatlinburg, TN.

The Conference on Computational Physics (CCP) is an annual international conference co-sponsored by APS DCOMP, and dedicated to presenting an overview of the most recent developments and opportunities in computational physics across a broad range of topical areas and from around the world. The CCP series has been in existence more that 20 years, alternating amongst the nations of the world divided (roughly) into Eastern, Central and Western zones with most recent ones being Ouro Preto, Brazil in 2008, Taiwan in 2009 and Trondheim, Norway in 2010.  CCP 2011 will cover computational physics through a series of plenary talks intended to provide a broad and accessible overview of the field. A series of parallel sessions as well as poster sessions will be formulated around several cross cutting themes that bring together researchers from different scientific domains and stimulate cross fertilization within the overall context of computational physics

For further information, see the conference web site at: http://ccp2011.ornl.gov/

And check out this conference flyer!

DCOMP at the APS March Meeting

At the 2011 APS March Meeting in Dallas, DCOMP sponsored a Monday morning Invited Symposium "Great Advances in Computational Physics: Past History, Current Progress, Future Prospects."  This was followed by a Focus Session "What is Computational Physics?" intended as a workshop on defining the modern field of computational physics. For example, what defines a computational physicist beyond being a physicist who uses a computer in research ? This focus session began with an invited talk by incoming DCOMP Chair Amy Bug (Swarthmore College) highlighting recent advances throughout the field of computational physics, and perspectives from the DOE Office of Science (Mark Pederson) and NSF (Darryl Hess) on current and future opportunities for computational discovery and design.


PDFs of some of these talks are provided in the following links:
Amy Bug - Computational Physics' Greatest Hits
Mark Pederson - Opportunities for Computational Discovery in Basic Energy Sciences
Daryl Hess - Enabling Computational Discovery and Design

Welcome to the blog for DCOMP

The Division of Computational Physics is now blogging to bring you the latest news of interest to computational physicists!