Where can I learn about modeling and simulating situations and experiments?

[Logical1]

Where/how can I learn about modeling and simulating situations/experiments for any physical situation (optics, thermodynamics, nuclear reactions). I'm an Computer Engineering student and I don't believe there are any classes being offered for modeling and simulation. What would be a good start in learning about how to model and simulate situations and experiments?

 

[Integral]

The key is ODEs and PDEs combined with numerical analysis. I am not current in the field so am not familiar with what texts are now available. In the past there were very few specific texts for modeling. The courses I took pretty much blazed their own path.

 

[Chestermiller]

Where/how can I learn about modeling and simulating situations/experiments for any physical situation (optics, thermodynamics, nuclear reactions). I'm an Computer Engineering student and I don't believe there are any classes being offered for modeling and simulation. What would be a good start in learning about how to model and simulate situations and experiments?

The best thing to do is to study engineering, preferably Chemical Engineering. Before you can start solving ODEs and PDEs, you need to formulate these equations by translating the physical mechanisms involved into the language of mathematics. This is what engineering is all about. Chemical Engineering is involved with modeling thermodynamics, physical chemistry, reaction kinetics, nuclear reactions, transport phenomena (fluid mechanics, heat transfer, mass transfer) to design and analyze processing equipment and product functionality.