Over forty years ago Brochard and de Gennes predicted the existence of a ferromagnetic nematic liquid crystal phase, characterized by the spontaneous formation of a macroscopic magnetization in the absence of external fields, but only until recently were such states experimentally realized. Renewed interest in this exotic phase of matter may usher a magnetic revolution in liquid crystal physics as an analogue to the wide variety of uses of electro-optical effects using liquid crystals that are sensitive to electric fields. The history of simulation studies and theory of the ferromagnetic nematic fluid is complicated and often limited to determining the existence of such a phase for a variety of models. Recent experimental realizations of the phase necessitate a more thorough theoretical understanding that can address a variety of questions posed by the new results. By further developments on past simulation studies, Monte Carlo simulations of oblate spherocylinders with distributions of dipoles along their surfaces provides a key model for studying the ferromagnetic nematic phase. Long-range electromagnetic interactions are treated using the Ewald summation method, with newly derived modifications for handling distributions of dipoles as opposed to point dipoles. Free energy differences are estimated using the Multiple Bennett Acceptance Ratio(MBAR) method, which are used to calculate the free energy contours in order to construct phase diagrams for the model.</p
