MSc Computational Science

Current natural science domain-specific problems are tackled by means of scientific and mathematical tools and translated into computer algorithms. Since only computational analysis allows in-depth research of complex and highly interconnected systems, Computational Scientists employ "computer experiments" in order to investigate current issues, such as:

• cosmological models
• molecular medicine
• biological neural networks
• molecular dynamics
• drug development
• particle and quantum physics
• big data analysis and machine learning

This interdisciplinary Master of Science degree program stands out, due to the broad research areas in the MIN-fields (Mathematics, Informatics/computer science, Natural sciences – astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics). These are always discussed from a Computational Science viewpoint:

• Which research areas are being advanced by computer science?
• How is the advancement implemented and how can it be improved?
• Which areas of each natural science are computer-aided and need the supervision of experts?

Students of Computational Science are prepared to address these questions and provide solutions as they are required to acquire the vocabulary of each domain of science due to the interdisciplinary structure of the program. They learn to implement key concepts in practice through designing and conducting computer-aided research.

The study program emphasizes:

1) Students from the various scientific domains are acquainted with the key concepts and topics of the other domain in the core program. Thus, their knowledge base is brought to a common level, from which the implementation of computational aspects in the different natural sciences can be developed.

2) The shell program enables students to focus on one natural science and integrate their computer programming skills to all MIN-fields via supplement modules.

Computational Science nurtures lateral thinking of well-informed scientists with knowledge in computer science and mathematics across all natural sciences. The Computational Scientist offers comprehensive approaches and solutions and may act as competent mediators between experts in particular natural sciences.