Modeling and Mining in Cosmology

Advances in observational and computational cosmology over the past two decades have served to narrow the possibilities for the dominant mass/energy components of our universe. The term "precision cosmology", an oxymoron only a few years ago, is a goal that will be realized using data generated by current and near future programs. In this talk, I will outline some of these developments, with a focus on the areas of galaxy and large-scale structure formation. The interplay between large sets of observations and large-scale computational models offers the potential for precise constraints on cosmological parameters, but an improved understanding of astrophysical processes, such as star formation on galactic scales, is needed to realize this potential.