Master of Science in in High-Performance Computing

The Master’s Degree program in High-Performance Computing is a two-year (120 ECTS) full-time program taught in English. It is provided together by the Faculty of Mathematics and Science and the Faculty of Information Technology. You can specialize in either Computer Science, Chemistry, or Physics.

The overarching theme of the program is combining skills in computer science with pressing problems in natural sciences. Many scientific challenges related to climate change or energy production and consumption need the concepts and understanding of natural sciences — the so-called first principles of understanding. However, understanding these principles is not enough: one needs people skilled in using computational tools to effectively solve the numerical problems that arise when those principles are applied in real-life situations, such as complex materials, the atmosphere, or biomedical innovations.

You can apply for this master's program during the annual spring joint application to higher education in January. If you are accepted, your studies will begin in September. Upon graduation, you will be granted a Master of Science degree.

Information about the degree structure in the Master's Degree Programme in High-Performance Computing
The program requires the completion of 120 ECTS credits within two years, with compulsory core studies and profiling studies with a degree of optionality. Studies include a compulsory computer science element in addition to studies in chemistry or physics, depending on the student’s specialization.

The compulsory studies include distributed and parallel computing, GPU programming, quantum algorithms, software development, data mining, and machine learning. In addition, the program includes advanced profiling studies according to the chosen specialization, such as particle physics, condensed matter physics, quantum mechanics, computational chemistry, or computational biophysics. In addition, language, communication, and working life skills courses are included in the program.

Students are also free to choose optional courses across the University subject to course-specific prerequisites. Optional courses include various preparatory or advanced-level language courses offered by the Centre for Multilingual Academic Communication (Movi), the Basic Business Studies module by the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics (JSBE), and the Creating Careers lecture series, just to mention a few examples.

The Research and Training module of the program includes Thesis Seminar, Thesis, and Professional Training.

In this program, we train multidisciplinary specialists able to operate, solve problems, and learn new skills in research and development requiring demanding computational research and development tasks. You will become an expert skilled in driving HPC adoption and knowledge transfer in industry and academia in different strategic domains, making an essential contribution to joint industry-academia R&D efforts.

Possible job titles for graduated students include computer scientist, data scientist, data analyst, software engineer, and computational chemist/physicist.

Additionally, soft skills like responsibility, professionalism, ethics, resource wisdom, goal orientation, and teamwork are part of every graduate's toolbox.