Undergraduate Program

Minor in Scientific Computation

The Minor in Scientific Computation is a natural complement to the curriculum for majors in natural sciences, mathematics, economics, and CSOM finance concentrators. A minor in Scientific Computation enriches training in any of these disciplines, adding an applied emphasis on the methodologies which have been developed for empirical research, and stressing the cross-fertilization of research methods across disciplines.

The advancement of science in many fields is becoming less discipline-specific, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the common tools used for challenging computational problems. For instance, the solution of 'hard' optimization problems or the simulation of large-scale nonlinear models are common to many fields of science and applied mathematics. Significant resources exist among the Boston College faculty for the advancement of applied computational methodologies.

An interdisciplinary minor in Scientific Computation provides students with a valuable, intellectually challenging experience and marketable skills applicable in many fields, but would also stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration and exchange among faculty. The program does not have significant overlap with existing offerings and programs in Computer Science, which are not generally oriented toward the scientific applications of computation such as simulation, modelling, and data visualization. Thus, a minor in Scientific Computation would be a useful complement to a major or concentration in Computer Science.

The interdisciplinary minor in Scientific Computation consists of six courses and a one-credit senior seminar (lecture series).

Learn more about a Minor in Scientific Computation.
Go to BC Theoretical Physics Computing Facility mini-site