Do you want to learn more about scientific computing in the field? See which option fits you best!
TAMU Undergraduates:
Join our research group!
- Hourly paid positions!
- Semester research can be used as either NUEN 485 ‘Directed Studies’ and NUEN 491 ‘Research’, up to 3 credit-hours of each.
- Do an B.S. Honors Thesis as a Senior and get an even stronger feel for what graduate research is.
Prospective graduate students:
- Do research in an existing field that can open up doors outside of mainstream nuclear engineering
- Learn from the best in the field!
- Benefits from our large professional network and obtain valuable internships at national labs
- Paid position (starting stipend is $2100/mo + tuition & fees paid for)
Helpful tips:
I always get asked what to self-study to become better at and more independent in the field of scientific computing.
It is true that many nuclear engineering undergraduate curricula do not provide adequate exposure to the world of scientific computation. If this topic really interests and motivates you, here are some recommendations:
- Supercomputers run on Unix: A good tutorial on Unix http://swcarpentry.github.io/shell-novice/
- Code development is done with version control. Nowadays, we use git. There are tons of tutorials and YouTube videos on git, e.g., https://guides.github.com/activities/hello-world/ but do not hesitate to search for more and, more importantly, try and practice using small examples.
- Code development is now done in large multidisciplinary teams. That means you do not write most of the code, but integrate your changes in large libraries. First, you need to learn how to check out large software libraries. I recommend downloading and installing the MOOSE framework https://mooseframework.inl.gov/ as well as the Deal.ii library https://www.dealii.org .Note. Each library has several tutorials. I also recommend running a few.
- Code/methods prototyping is often done in python. https://scipy-lectures.org/
- Too often, people do not run problems with a high degree of geometrical complexity. It is best to be confronted early on with real-world meshes. That usually incites people in writing codes that are made for more than just LegoLand world … Gmsh is a great free mesh generator. http://gmsh.info/
- Several of these topics can also be researched here: https://software-carpentry.org/lessons/index.html