Computational Simulation concerns the execution of programs that deal with mathematical or real-world phenomena. Such systems are important for producing data when real-world data is unobtainable, and for predicting the future. This talk will introduce a conceptual framework and discuss the practical issues of building a general purpose simulation system. Demonstrations of the speaker’s current effort will be included. No prior experience with simulation systems is assumed.

Richard Salter served on the Oberlin faculty from 1982 to 2016 and was the first person hired to teach computer science at Oberlin. He served as chair from 1987 to 1991 and 2003 to 2011. His collaborative research on simulation systems with Professor Wayne Getz of U.C. Berkeley (since 2011) has resulted in more than 20 publications and presentations, including workshops in Israel, South Africa and Hong Kong.

Sponsored by Data Science and Computer Science