Martin Ossowski has been named director of the Center for Computationally Assisted Science & Technology at NDSU. Philip Boudjouk, vice president for research, creative activities and technology transfer, announced the appointment.
At NDSU, Ossowski will work to enhance the capabilities of the center to provide scientific computational resources to researchers. Additional goals include partnering with private, government and university sectors in support of research opportunities. NDSU researchers use the Center for Computationally Assisted Science & Technology’s computing power to make discoveries in nanotechnology, agriculture, computer science, biotechnology and other fields.
“Computation has come of age as a critical tool for scientific discovery across all disciplines,” said Ossowski. “CCAST will continue to play an integral part in the already impressive portfolio of computationally assisted research and development at NDSU while becoming a catalyst for creation of new and novel directions in scientific inquiry, engineering, technology transfer and teaching in areas vital to the betterment of the state, the region and the nation.”
“The two pillars of science have always been experimentation and theory,” said Boudjouk. “For the 21st century, we have a third pillar, which is computation. At NDSU, we expect to be fully engaged in all three areas.”
Ossowski most recently served in the Research Computing Support Group at Rice University, Houston. In that position, he strengthened computational infrastructure and helped obtain funding for computing services for research. Ossowski previously was a science consultant and coordinated multidisciplinary grant proposals at the Research Computing Core of the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla., where he also served as a courtesy assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering.
In 2000, Ossowski received the National Research Council Resident Research Associateship Award and joined the Naval Research Laboratory’s Center for Computational Materials Science. He worked to develop methods and algorithms for the efficient (linear-scaling) application of density functional theory. The methods developed at the Naval Research Laboratory were successfully used to study electronic, structural, elastic and vibrational properties of complex oxides and other materials.
As a co-principal investigator and senior research personnel, Ossowski has secured approximately $10.7 million in funding for research from the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health.
Martin Ossowski earned his doctorate in theoretical condensed matter physics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He worked as a post-doctoral research associate there in the Department of Physics and Astronomy on the first-principles computational extensions to the Gordon-Kim rigid-ion electron-gas model. Ossowski, a condensed matter physicist and quantum chemist, has written or contributed more than 30 scientific articles and conference papers. He continues to work on algorithms toward greater efficiency of density functional theory methods.