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A Recent Study Identifies nanoHUB as Top Computational Materials Science Resource

nanoHUB, a science gateway that has provided resources to the nanotechnology community for more than fifteen years, is known for its well-curated collection of education modules, teaching materials, and computational simulation tools. A recent study identified this popular destination for students and educators as the most familiar and widely used resource for Computational Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE) education in the United States. The distinction is based on data collected in a survey that found that 100% of the respondents were aware of nanoHUB, and 93% reported using it. 

The survey was conducted by Raúl A. Enrique and Katsuyo Thornton of the University of Michigan, and Mark Asta of the University of California at Berkeley. The survey asked those working in the Materials Science field to rate the importance of incorporating CMSE into undergraduate curricula, how it could be incorporated, current offerings in CMSE, software tools that are taught and used, and more.

The findings, which were published in the paper "Computational Materials Science and Engineering Education: An Updated Survey of Trends and Needs," show a continued need for the resources offered by nanoHUB, including software tools and educational materials that can be easily implemented by faculty regardless of area of expertise. 

Thanks to renewed funding from NSF, nanoHUB and the Network for Computational Nanotechnology can continue making resources and computing power available to the community, as well as supporting the development of new materials.