Computational Science and Engineering

University of Michigan Engineering is advancing discovery at the forefront of computational research—leveraging high-performance computers (HPC), advanced models, and digital twin technologies to drive innovation across disciplines. These efforts are propelled by several large-scale, federally supported research centers and interdisciplinary initiatives that address both foundational science and real-world applications.

Engineers at U-M have been running computer simulations since they were analog. They also used digital mainframes from the 1950s, brought “minicomputers” into their offices in the 1960s and 1970s, and in the 1980s, began to organize through the Computer Aided Engineering Network (CAEN). 

Into the 1990s, many faculty members were still running algorithms on personal computers, some because that was enough computing power and others to prove out algorithms and win time on the supercomputers becoming available at national laboratories. To make these efforts more efficient, the Center for Advanced Computing began running modest supercomputers in the College of Engineering, funded by the National Science Foundation. Eventually, that center evolved into Advanced Research Computing (ARC), which is now part of U-M Information and Technology Services. Its flagship supercomputer, the Great Lakes Cluster, currently runs 16,000 cores and performs everything from lean models that capture the essential dynamics of a process to highly detailed simulations ultimately targeting exascale computing resources.

Recognizing modeling and simulation as a complement to theory and experiment and specifically training scientists and engineers in these skills, U-M launched the first PhD program in scientific computing in 1988. Alumni work across a range of sectors, in academia, industry and national laboratories.