  Since its introduction by Erik Winfree in 1998, the abstract Tile Assembly
Model (aTAM) has inspired a wealth of research. As an abstract model for tile
based self-assembly, it has proven to be remarkably powerful and expressive in
terms of the structures which can self-assemble within it. As research has
progressed in the aTAM, the self-assembling structures being studied have
become progressively more complex. This increasing complexity, along with a
need for standardization of definitions and tools among researchers, motivated
the development of the Iowa State University Tile Assembly Simulator (ISU TAS).
ISU TAS is a graphical simulator and tile set editor for designing and building
2-D and 3-D aTAM tile assembly systems and simulating their self-assembly. This
paper reviews the features and functionality of ISU TAS and describes how it
can be used to further research into the complexities of the aTAM. Software and
source code are available at http://www.cs.iastate.edu/~lnsa.

Mathematical Software;Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science