Dear KIM Member:
With this message, we are beginning the tradition of sending you the "KIM Quarterly Update" — a short summary four times a year of new and interesting developments related to the KIM project (https://openkim.org). You are receiving this message because you are a registered KIM member and indicated that you are interested in receiving email from us.
1. We are delighted to announce that funding for the KIM project has been renewed for another 3 years through the NSF CDS&E program. (The initial funding came through an NSF CDI grant.) We thank the NSF for their continued support! For more information, visit http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1408211
2. If you haven't visited our website recently, we invite you to take a look at https://openkim.org. We have completely redesigned the website to make it easier to navigate and use. We welcome your feedback (both positive and critical) at support@openkim.org
3. We have continued to develop the KIM API and now have a robust stable interface. (The latest version is 1.7.2 available at https://openkim.org/kim-api/). A large number of major software packages now support the KIM API, which means that they will seamlessly work with KIM Models (potentials and force fields). For a complete list, see https://openkim.org/projects-using-kim/
4. In an effort to make it easier to install and use the KIM API, we are developing installation packages for popular package managers. We have just released packages for Ubuntu (see https://openkim.org/kim-api/#Ubuntu). To help us decide which packages to develop next, we have set up a brief one-question survey to get your input:
It will take just 30 seconds to fill in and we would greatly appreciate your feedback to let us know where to focus our efforts.
5. We continue to work actively to create new content for openkim.org and to make this project more useful to you and the molecular simulation community.
We also want to hear from you! If you are using KIM in your own work please send us a short message, at support@openkim.org, and let us know what you are up to. You can also subscribe to the openkim Google group https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/openkim to listen to developer chatter.
Finally, see the Upcoming Events at the end of this email to learn about KIM events in the near future.
That's it until the next Quarterly Update in mid-December.
With best wishes,
Ellad Tadmor (KIM Director) and the KIM Team
Upcoming Events
Ellad Tadmor together with Ron Miller will be teaching a Modeling Materials Short Course at FAU/EAM in Erlangen, Germany during August 17-21, 2015 (Next week!). This course is a general introduction to atomistic and multiscale simulations, which also covers the OpenKIM project. For more information, visit https://www.modelingmaterials.org/short-courses (These courses are offered on a regular basis, so if you miss this one, you can sign up at the above link to be informed of the next one.)
Ryan Elliott will be giving a lecture on "The Knowledgebase of Interatomic Models (KIM) and Examples of Atomistic Scale Instabilities in Crystalline Materials" at the ASME IMEC&E in Houston, Texas during Nov. 13-19, 2015. For more information, see https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/society-news/asme-news/2015-international-congress-exposition-begins-nov
We are also pleased to announce that graduate students Daniel Karls and Matt Bierbaum, who are key contributors to the KIM Project and framework, will be graduating this Fall. See https://openkim.org/about/#team-members for more on Dan and Matt.