High Performance Computing and Materials Science Workshop Prepares Students for Opportunities at National Labs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Fourteen students from five universities around the nation are participating in a two-week workshop at Tennessee State University as part of a consortium to build a sustainable STEM pipeline between the U.S. Department of Energy labs and HBCUs.

The undergraduate and graduate students, who are mainly science and engineering majors, are receiving lectures and hands-on exposure to high-performance computing, structural modeling, computational materials physics and chemistry, and classical molecular dynamics.

According to Dr. Lizhi Ouyang, associate professor of Physics and coordinator of the workshop at TSU, the consortium is part of a new Minority Serving Institution Partnership Program of the National Nuclear Security Administration designed to expose students to state-of-the-art facilities and research.

“The MSIPP is designed to enrich the STEM capabilities of HBCUs in a sustainable manner that is aligned with the broad interest of DOE sites with emphasis on a career pipeline,” said Ouyang.

He said the partnership is the result of an MSIPP award to Prairie View A&M University to lead a research effort in Investigating and Characterizing Catalytic Activity in Novel Materials and Processes Using Computational Techniques.

Along with Prairie View A&M, the consortium includes the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, as well as TSU, Southern University, Allen University and Morehouse College, whose students are attending the workshop.

Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, dean of the College of Engineering, welcomes participants from around the country to a two-week workshop at Tennessee State University as part of a consortium to build a sustainable STEM pipeline between the U.S. Department of Energy labs and HBCUs. (photo by Emmanuel Freeman, TSU Media Relations)

In a welcome statement Monday, Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, dean of the College of Engineering, spoke about the importance of research and education with a global emphasis. He said while the field of engineering offers many opportunities, the College also emphasizes that its graduates are well rounded and able to cope on the global scene.

“We want to graduate students who are well rounded and ready to work in any part of the world,” said Hargrove, citing many study and travel abroad opportunities afforded students in the College. “We want our graduates to be able to demonstrate their capability in any part of the world where they find the opportunity.”

Hargrove acquainted the visitors with program offerings in the College of Engineering, and encouraged them to take their workshop seriously, and the opportunity to learn from faculty members who are highly capable in their areas of discipline.

The workshop, which runs from July 7-18, is being held in the Research and Sponsored Programs Building.

Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University