Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing

South west view of the IWR building, located at Heidelberg's New Campus

The Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (short IWR) is a scientific research institute of the University of Heidelberg, Germany. It centralizes scientific activity and promotes research and work in scientific computing. Founded in 1987 by the University of Heidelberg and the state of Baden-Württemberg, IWR participates in joint project and cooperations with industry in Germany as well as abroad. As a research institute with about 380 staff, IWR is considered one of the world's largest research centers for scientific computing.

Objectives

Graduate School

Since November 2007 the training and education of Ph.D. students at IWR is supported by the Heidelberg Graduate School of Mathematical and Computational Methods for the Sciences (HGS MathComp). As part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative, HGS MathComp is a supported institution partially established and located at IWR, in order to realize innovative concepts for a structured education of Ph.D. students in interdisciplinary research projects.

History

The initial concept of the IWR was proposed in 1985 and accepted by the University Senate two years later. After securing the necessary finances, the first parallel computer was purchased in 1989. The Graduiertenkolleg "Modellierung und Wissenschaftliches Rechnen in Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften" (Modelling and Scientific Computing in Mathematics and the Sciences) was established in 1992 and evaluated by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in 1994 and 1998. Since 1994, the IWR has grown in size and resources and will continue to do so.

Since 2005, the board of directors of IWR consists of professor Hans Georg Bock (Managing Director), professor Willi Jäger, and professor Bernd Jähne.

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