Guest Editors' Introduction: Verification and Validation in Computational Science and Engineering

An encompassing goal of contemporary scientific computing is to provide quantitatively accurate predictions that can help society make important decisions. The span of this intended influence includes such widely different fields as astrophysics, weather and climate forecasting, quantitative economic policy, environmental regulation, and performance certification of complex engineered systems such as nuclear power plants. To the degree that we believe accurate computational science and engineering (CSE) will have an increasingly greater impact on problems of societal importance, we must also be concerned about the consequences of inaccurate or wrong CSE. Human life need not necessarily be at risk, but it is highly likely that money, time, environmental quality, and other factors will be.