This project centers around developing a concurrent extension of an existing serial code (developed by Dr. Juyang Huang) that performs Monte Carlo simulations of lipid mixtures in biomembranes. The target platform for the concurrent code is a 16-node Beowulf cluster located in the physics department.

Issues that must be addressed include:

• Problem decomposition for large scale simulations.
• Efficient internode communication using the standard message passing interface (MPI).
• Implementation of a long-cycle, concurrent pseudo-random number generator sufficient to pass the standard tests for "randomness."
• Simulation verification, where possible, by comparison to the existing serial code and to laboratory measurement.

Useful Background Sources

1. Naeem Jan, Turab Lookman, and David A. Pink, "On Computer Simulation Methods Used To Study Models of Two-Component Lipid Bilayers," Biochemistry 23, 3227-3231 (1984).
2. Juyang Huang and Gerald W. Feigenson, "Monte Carlo Simulation of Lipid Mixtures: Finding Phase Separation," Biophysical Journal 65, 1788-1794 (1993).
3. Donald E. Knuth, "The Art of Computer Programming," Vol II, Chapter 3, (Addison-Wesley, 1998).
4. Barry Wilkinson and Michael Allen, "Parallel Programming: Techniques and Applications Using Networked Workstations and Parallel Computers," (Prentice Hall, 1999).

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