NSF-supported university research with large computational requirements
NCAR's Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL) invites NSF-supported university researchers in the atmospheric, oceanic, and closely related sciences to submit requests for projects needing more than 16,000 general accounting units (GAUs).
Allocations may be used on bluefire, the newest supercomputer at NCAR, an IBM POWER6 with 3,776 compute processors. University allocations have more than doubled due to bluefire's large capacity. The median panel-reviewed request is over 70,000 GAUs, and the panel has approved several requests over 200K GAUs. Very large requests with strong scientific and computational justification are encouraged. Allocations are given for the life of the NSF award.
Requests for less than 16,000 GAUs for a single project may be submitted at any time using the "Small Request Form." Once the sum of small allocations reaches 16,000 GAUs, the next request must be submitted using the "Large Request Form" by the panel deadline. University researchers with NSF awards are encouraged to apply for a small allocation to obtain information on the GAU requirements for their research and to test the computational efficiency of their code before applying for a large allocation.
Contact: Ginger Caldwell, NCAR/CISL, 303-497-1229
Overview of allocation process (including request forms)
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