Ulam Computer Simulations Workshop. Challenges & Opportunities in Molecular Simulations

Ulam Computer Simulations Workshop (http://icmp.lviv.ua/ucsw2017/) was held at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv on 21-24 June 2017, 70 years from the invention of the Monte Carlo method – nowadays widely used to solve problems in various fields of physical and life sciences, engineering, finance, statistics, mathematics, etc. The conference was organized by Institute for Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Lviv Polytechnic National University and Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in co-operation with the Hugo Steinhaus Center (http://prac.im.pwr.wroc.pl/~hugo/HSC/hsc_ang.html) located at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology (WUST), Lviv City Government and Hi Tech Office Ukraine.

Stanisław Ulam was born in Lviv (Lemberg), at that time the capital city of province Galicia in Austro-Hungarian Empire, while when he graduated from the local Polytechnic University in 1930, the city of Lwów belonged to Poland. Ulam became a member of the Lviv School of Mathematics with Stefan Banach and Hugo Steinhaus, great Polish mathematicians, one of the moving spirits of the Lviv School of Mathematics. After the war, a group including some of the original community carried on their work in western Poland’s Wrocław, the successor city to prewar Lwów. In 1945 at Cracow, Hugo Steinhaus contributed to the organization of the Wrocław University, where he was appointed to a department, later called the Department of Application of Mathematics.

The main objective of the conference was twofold. First of all, to pay a tribute to the legacy of Ulam for his pioneering contribution to the development of the field of computer simulations. Secondly, to bring together leading researchers on computer simulations of soft matter and to offer the young researchers and graduate students an in-depth review of the most recent developments in the field that poses many challenges nowadays. The conference was meant as a platform to exchange ideas and solutions to initiate collaboration between participants.

Main topics included historical aspects of computer simulations, multiscale molecular simulations, ab initio & quantum simulations, the latest development of simulation algorithms, interfaces between hard & soft matter, biologically motivated systems and water, electrolytes & hydrogen bonding systems.The event was truly international with more than 60 participants from more 10 countries. During the conference 28 talks were presented by outstanding speakers, mostly being world’s leading experts in their fields. For the detailed programme of the conference and talk abstracts please visit http://icmp.lviv.ua/ucsw2017/USCW2017_Book_of_abstracts.pdf.

Contact person:

Krzysztof Burnecki (Hugo Steinhaus Center, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland)
e-mail: krzysztof.burnecki@pwr.edu.pl