Advanced computer modeling has enabled British Petroleum (BP) to determine the best design and operating conditions for its oil refinery in Kwinana. BP teamed up with the Curtin University of Technology and the University of Newcastle to develop a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for the refinery’s catalyst strippers, which use steam to separate hydrocarbons from the process that breaks up heavy crude oil into smaller molecular parts. A team led by Curtin’s Center of Process Systems Computations (CPSC) used the CFD model to evaluate the internal structure that impacts the interactions between gases and solids, and to determine the optimal mix of steam, catalyst, and hydrocarbons inside the stripper. CPSC director Vishnu Pareek says simulating a few seconds of real-time interaction in the catalyst stripper used to take weeks. “This project used innovative techniques to achieve realistic flow predictions with the least amount of computational effort required,” he says. BP says the CFD model will help save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on steam usage.
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that few students are enrolling in computer science courses, particularly women and minorities. The BLS ranks computer application software engineering as the fourth most in-demand occupation in its Occupational Handbook for 2006-2016, largely because of the growing number of applications for emerging technologies and the increasing complexity of businesses. However, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Jan Cuny says there has been a major drop-off in the number of computer scientists entering the workforce since 2000. Since 2000, 70 percent fewer students have majored in computer science, with 80 percent fewer women entering the field, according to Computing Research Association data. Cuny says the Higher Education Research Institute reports that only 1 percent of students are majoring in computer science, and just 0.3 percent are women. University of North Carolina (UNC) at Greensboro professor Anthony Chow says that over the past eight years there has been a slight increase in women’s enrollment in computer science at the undergraduate level, but on the graduate level minority enrollment plunges to extremely small percentages. Retaining minority employees is another major problem, with nearly half of all minorities leaving technology jobs to enter other occupations, according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Isolation is a major factor in the drop-out rates for women and minorities, says Teresa Dahlberg, director of the Diversity in Information Technology Institute at UNC Charlotte. She also says that women are often judged more harshly than men. Cuny says NSF is focusing on information education programs intended to spark student interest in computing by demonstrating how computers can solve programs through creativity, and also is working to infuse computer science into middle school and high school curricula.

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Germany’s Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has partnered with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to establish the first interactive digital media research institute in Asia. Fraunhofer Singapore, which will be located at NTU, will focus on promoting applied research and commercial opportunities for areas such as computer graphics, computer vision, virtual reality, and augmented reality. Researchers will work directly with Fraunhofer’s Institute for Computer Graphics Research on new technologies, as well as with industry partners. NTU, Fraunhofer, and Singapore funding agencies will provide Fraunhofer Singapore with about $10 million over five years. NTU and Fraunhofer hope to have the institute up and running in the first half of 2010 with 20 scientists and researchers, and have a staff of about 50 international researchers within the next two to three years. “That they have chosen NTU as their research partner in the area of computer graphics, interactive digital media, virtual reality, and augmented reality, speaks volumes for NTU’s research and innovation culture and the strength of our engineers and scientists at NTU,” says NTU president Su Guaning. “We are delighted to partner with one of the most highly regarded computer graphics powerhouses of Europe.”

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