When and Where

January 6th-15th, 2013 in College Station, TX

Rationale

Throughout history, the development of technology-enabling materials has been carried out using mostly experimental approaches. Thanks to recent advances at the theory, software and hardware level, computational materials science has emerged as an extremely valuable tool in the development of new materials.

Goals

The goal of this week-and-a-half Winter School is to introduce some of the most important methods within the Computational Materials Science toolkit to undergraduate and graduate students interested in this emerging field. This Winter School will offer modules focused on different methods used to investigate physical phenomena at multiple scales. The school will also provide introductory lectures on approaches to simulate materials systems in which multiple physical phenomena are tightly coupled.

Target Audience

The target audience for this Winter School is composed of students and junior researchers (postdocs, faculty) interested in learning more about computational materials science, but who may not be familiar with some (or all) of the methods and techniques used to simulate the behaviors of materials at multiple scales. In a sense, this school should be considered introductory. Participants are expected to at least become aware of the potential (and limitations) of computational materials science.

Organization and Topics

Themes will be organized as follows:

  1. Atomistic Simulation
  2. Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Materials at the Mesoscale
  3. Microstructural Evolution
  4. Mesoscale Phenomena: Point and Extended Defects
  5. Continuum Response of Microstructures
  6. General Approaches for Multi-Physics Modeling
  7. Basics of Electro-Mechanical Coupling
  8. Electro-mechanical Coupling at Atomic, Meso and Continuum Scales

The School will consist of theoretical modules offered by experts in the field, followed by practical laboratories where the participants will have the opportunity of using the methods reviewed to simulate specific material phenomena. The newly established IIMEC Computer Cluster acquired with financial support from the National Science Foundation will be used during the hands-on sessions.

Interactions among participants is fundamental to achieve the full potential of the Winter School and social activities will be planned to provide ample opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas as well as to initiate collaborations that can be fostered within the IIMEC program.

Hardware/Software Available

During the Winter School, students and instructors will have access to a Linux Cluster consisting of 328 CPUs distributed in 30 nodes with 24 GB RAM each. We already have multiple computer simulation software installed (VASP, ABAQUS, LAMMPS, etc). Additional software can be installed at the request of the instructors.