Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire

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European Center for Atomic and Molecular Calculations

Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire
Location of CECAM Nodes (red) and HQ (blue)
Established	1969
Director
President of the Council
Location	Écublens (near Lausanne) , Vaud , Switzerland 46°31′13″N 6°33′56″E / 46.52028°N 6.56556°E / 46.52028; 6.56556Coordinates: 46°31′13″N 6°33′56″E / 46.52028°N 6.56556°E / 46.52028; 6.56556
Campus	www.epfl.ch
Website	www.cecam.org

CECAM

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland

Description[]

The Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire (CECAM),^[1] is the longest standing European Institute for the promotion of fundamental research on advanced computational methods and their application to problems in frontier areas of science and technology. Its current headquarters is based on the EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) campus in Lausanne, Switzerland.^[2]

Past

Activities to create CECAM begun in 1967, but its date of birth was set to October 1969 by its founding father, Carl Moser. CECAM originated from the intuition that – spurred by the growing power of computers – numerical methods were destined to play an increasingly important role in science. From the very beginning, CECAM was founded on the belief that international cooperation, involving academic, research and funding institutions across Europe, was essential for success. The Center established its key role in Europe and the world combining two critical ingredients: creating a venue for open discussion focused on scientific challenges, and providing the practical tools to turn theory into results. These ingredients took shape in the CECAM workshops and in the easy access to considerable computational power at CIRCE, its first location. The workshops, in particular, rapidly came to be regarded as the distinguishing unique feature of CECAM. In the words of Moser, they consisted in “[…] getting together a small number of scientists (the optimum number will depend on the subject matter) who are willing to work together for several weeks on a central theme though each one should be encouraged to try out his ideas”.

Embodying and enriching this tradition for more than fifty years, CECAM has marked the professional life of many of scientists, adapting to the changing times, without giving up the spirit of the early years. It has continuously sustained international and interdisciplinary collaboration among three generations of researchers, training them via schools and fostering advancement and collaboration via workshops. CECAM was instrumental in establishing simulation as a new way of doing science and, by embedding researchers in a broad, open and interdisciplinary environment at the leading edge of the field, has created a uniquely strong sense of community that transcends specific research areas. In this way, CECAM has been the catalyst that has put Europe at the forefront of many areas of simulation and modelling: almost all the leaders in the field have, over the years, been strongly involved in its activities and many have taken leadership roles in it. In 2020, the Covid-19 crisis saw the development of new types of online events such as workshops, schools, webinar series, lectures, virtual poster sessions and hybrid events with a mix with on site and online attendance.

Present

CECAM has evolved from a single focal point for simulation and modelling into a network of 17 nodes across Europe and in Israel, with its headquarters (HQ) at EPFL. It is governed by a convention signed by 25 member organizations located in 13 European countries, Israel and China, which include National Research Councils, Research and HPC Centres, and Universities, from which it receives funding for ordinary activities. The CECAM nodes are, for the most part, consortia of more than one institution, constituting a network of excellence of academic and research partners located in 10 European countries and Israel. The network embraces essentially all relevant research groups in computational modelling in Europe, and the nodes are embedded in most of the relevant European research institutions. Every year, about 2500 scientists at different stages of their careers participate in our rich and diverse program of events, sharing their knowledge, learning and developing new ideas.

Future

CECAM is committed to keep playing a central, internationally recognized, role in simulation and modelling. The scientific excellence of the meetings hosted in our network, the informal, open and careful discussions focused on new ideas and unsolved questions, and the commitment to training in schools where young practitioners can meet and interact with leading experts in the field are the trademarks upon which our service is founded.

We hope that, with the support of scientists in Europe and around the world, CECAM will keep growing younger and continue to indicate interesting directions in the field, inspire new activities and stimulate productive collaborations. Together, we shall endeavor to fulfill and enrich CECAM’s mission and ensure that our Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire continues to live long and prosper.

Activities[]

CECAM mission is to promote discussion, exchange of information, and training in computational science. As the name suggests, the traditional focus of CECAM has been atomistic and molecular simulations, applied to the physics and chemistry of condensed matter. Over the last twenty five years, powerful advances in computer hardware and software have supported the extension of these methods to a wide range of problems in materials science, biology and medicinal chemistry. CECAM has always been very attentive to such developments and has helped to foster many of them to the point that computer simulation is now considered to be a third way of doing science; a new way of linking theory and experiment. The importance of simulation continues to grow in many emerging areas and CECAM is evolving its scope and structure to address these changes.

CECAM activities, across all of the nodes, include the organization of scientific workshops in emerging areas; specialist schools to train at the graduate and postdoctoral level; workshops on software development; brain-storming and problem solving events; the development of collaborative research projects for Europe and beyond; and the sponsorship of an international visitors programs. We welcome applications to organize events and to establish networks through CECAM from everybody interested in computational science.

Member Organizations[]

CECAM is supported by member organizations from 13 European countries, Israel and China. These Organizations are listed in Table 1. Each Member Organization nominates two representatives to the Cecam Council, the governing body that has the ultimate responsibility for all strategy and operations of the Center.

Nodes[]

Nodes contribute to CECAM activities by organising and hosting workshops and schools at the level of the network (Flagship events) and locally (Node events). They initiate or participate in CECAM research and training activities, host a visitor program and promote research in computational science in their region. A CECAM node is a research structure inside a larger Institution, or a consortium of such Institutions whose activities and relationships are regulated by a formal agreement. The Directors of the nodes administer the program taking place at their respective locations, possibly in collaboration with other nodes or the Headquarters. The Directors constitute the CECAM Board of Directors, working towards a coordinated optimal selection and distribution of activities throughout the network.

References[]

External links[]

• Official Website