The purpose of this project is to establish a laboratory capable of supporting an undergraduate program in Computational Science. A large number of students in the natural and social sciences complete their undergraduate career without experience in the application of advanced computational tools and techniques to the problems of their respective disciplines. The objective of this project is to create an interdisciplinary program within the Mathematics Department that gives these students the needed background and experience. It expands and articulates existing courses in numerical methods, large-scale data analysis, and visualization techniques as it creates a program specifically designed for these students. This program can create a group of mathematically sophisticated students who can apply their knowledge of visualization and computation techniques to problems in the natural and social sciences, especially geology, biology, chemistry, physics, economics, geography, and psychology. All students in this program are required to complete a major computational project in their area of interest. These projects can be made publicly available. Faculty members can also share what they have learned about implementing such a program with other colleges and universities, especially with those similar institutions in the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Great Lakes Colleges Association with which the college has a record of close cooperation.
