The Department of Mathematics at NC State University proposes to create a high performance computational cluster to support the research of the symbolic computation group. The Department is one of the largest groups in symbolic computation in the USA. The group is composed of 6 faculty (4 professors and 2 assistant professors), 11 PhD. students and 1 Masters student. The field of Symbolic Computation has, by its very nature, been pushed forward by the symbiotic relationship between the development of computational tools and the development and implementation of good algorithms. This relationship is reflected in the various research projects supported by this award. The research relies heavily on the ability to compute examples and test proposed algorithms, not only to see what is true but also to see which algorithms truly work.
Symbolic Computation is of fundamental importance throughout science and industry. It forms the basic building blocks of the mathematical programs, like Matlab, Mathematica, Maple and many others, all of which have become fundamental tools throughout science. The work of the symbolic computation group at NC State University will help expand these programs to become even more powerful and at the same time improve their usability. This will enable more and more people to take advantage of these powerful mathematical tools. Good symbolic computation packages will turn theoretical models into practical software. These packages will provide an easier approach to a highly technical area for students at many levels of mathematics, and researchers from many branches of science and engineering.
