SPECIAL FEATURE
Describing the Unknown: A Spotlight on Computational Research By Camilla Li
6:30 AM, Oxford, Georgia. The sun had yet to rise over the small, sleepy town, but in the seemingly far-removed world of Oxford College, a light flickered on in the office of Dr. Alfred Farris just as the last stragglers filed from the library. Dr. Farris is an assistant professor of physics whose research curiously straddles the disciplines of computer science, physics, and biochemistry. When asked why computers are relevant in modern scientific research, he had a simple scenario in mind: Imagine you have a cup of water. In a lab, you can measure things like the temperature of the water. Now imagine if you can go in and measure the motion of individual water molecules. That is the power of a simulation. Historically speaking, it wasn’t until very recently that programmable machines were made capable of carrying out these tasks. With the advent of the Information Age, however, it is little wonder that the application of computations and simulations has worked its way into scientific research, establishing itself as yet another
pillar in modern science. The idea of research in the natural sciences traditionally conjures images of white-coated scientists bent over fancy lab equipment or Sheldon Cooper scribbling equations on a white board. Somewhere along the lines, computational research emerged as an intermediate between the well-established realms of experiment and theory: an invaluable Option 3. “The one thing that’s interesting that I think takes a while to figure out is that there’s a difference between a computation and a simulation,” Dr. Farris made sure to clarify. “A computation is a calculation with a defined answer, [whereas] in a simulation, you are running experiments in the computer.” One of his projects involves studying the biological process of protein folding using a coarsegrained model, or a model with simplifications, analyzed using statistical mechanics. A problem sometimes with coarse-grained models, especially when modeling complex processes like protein-folding, is determining how much detail is necessary to in-
SPECIAL FEATURE
Imagine you have a cup of water. In a lab, you can measure things like the temperature of the water. Now imagine if you can go in and measure the motion of individual water molecules. That is the power of a simulation.
Dr. Alfred Farris, Oxford College Physics professor
Dr. Simbarashe Nkomo, Oxford College Chemistry professor
Volume XVI, Spring 2020 | 33
