Physics - A unifying framework in the development of science and technology

(Sixth and last of a series)

Career opportunities for CS&E graduates

The recent and rapid developments in CS&E have been driven by a dramatic increase in the power and affordability of computers. CS&E graduates will present to the job market and graduate schools, people who possess competent education in physics, mathematics and computing, as well as valuable skills in complex problem-solving and teamwork. They will be able to enjoy careers involving high-performance computing and science, without having to choose between them.

For example, a B.S. degree in CS&E is bound for a career in (a) high-performance and scientific computing, in the energy and aerospace sectors, with chemical and pharmaceutical companies, with environmental management; (b) research in an academic, industrial, or national laboratory; and (c) teaching.

A degree in CS&E is an excellent springboard to careers in many related fields where computation plays key roles: oceanography, material science, electrical engineering and computer science, engineering, applied mathematics, geophysics, medicine or finance. CS&E stimulates interdisciplinary activities linking fundamental and applied research, where considerable scientific advances are anticipated due to the application of mathematical modeling methods and modern computational techniques to challenging science and engineering problems.

Therefore, in the national S & T infrastructure development program of the Philippines, the establishment of CS&E discipline in science departments of major universities and research centers is highly desirable, to afford Filipino students access to participate in newly open opportunities for a profitable and wide-ranging-marketability profession.

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Dr. Felixberto A. Buot is a research physicist (retired) from the US Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. He is currently a research professor at the Center for Computational Materials Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. He is a fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences, and a senior member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). He is the guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience on “Transport Physics of Low-Dimensional Systems, Mesoscopic Structures and Nanodevices: Theory, Modeling, and Simulation” (American Scientific Publishers, August 2009 issue). He authored a new book entitled “Nonequilibrium Quantum Transport Physics in Nanosystems” with subtitle “Foundation of Computational Nonequilibrium Physics in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology” (World Scientific Publishing Co., July 2009). E-mail him at [email protected].