July 2013 Call for HPC Access Proposals

All New Zealand researchers are invited to apply for access to New Zealand’s largest scientific computers. The call is now open and closes 19 July 2013.

We welcome research groups with upcoming, new and current projects to apply for access under the Research, Proposal Development and the new Postgraduate allocation class.

Classes of CPU time

Access to our HPC facilities is provided under allocation classes:

• Proposal Development is for new projects and established projects new to NeSI. Use this allocation class to evaluate your software on NeSI’s facilities, gather preliminary results for a funding application and to assess which HPC facility suits your problem the best.
• Postgraduate (new!) is an allocation class that lowers the barriers for New Zealand postgraduate students. Gain the same access as those under the Research allocation class, without needing a peer-reviewed grant.
• Research is for established research projects. Projects are granted very large allocations to conduct their research. Research groups also benefit far more from technical expertise, as NeSI’s Expert Support is available to work with them to optimise and parallelise the code.

Introducing the Computational Science Team

NeSI is very proud to introduce its Computational Science Team. The national team will work in close collaboration with researchers to improve the efficiency of their codes and speed up their research. It is made up of experts from around the world with many years' experience. You can contact our team members directly by taking a look at their profiles.

Instructions

Visit nesi.org.nz/apply and select the correct allocation class on the right. If you are just starting out, select “Proposal Development”. Otherwise, select Research or Postgraduate. If you need any assistance with the forms, email support@nesi.org.nz or attend our drop-in session on Friday, 19 July.

Finding more detailed information

The NeSI Access Policy provides a comprehensive guide to accessing NeSI’s HPC facilities. This includes details of eligibility requirements, allocation classes, fees and subsidies available.

Where to start

The Proposal Development allocation class provides time at no cost on all of our facilities for evaluation and testing. We strongly recommend using this time to benchmark your software across all of NeSI’s facilities. Understanding where your software runs fastest can greatly speed up your whole research programme.

To learn discuss your options, talk to your project advisor once your access grant has been awarded. To gain an award, apply now.

HPC Pricing

Pricing for high performance computing varies depending on the facility that is accessed. Full details are provided in the NeSI Access Policy. For Postgraduate and Research projects, NeSI absorbs 80% of the cost. Proposal Development projects are free.

Ask questions face-to-face

NeSI staff are hosting a video conference to field questions from the research community during 10-11am on Friday 19 July. If you have any questions relating to eligibility or suitability of NeSI to your research, do drop in for a few minutes for a chat.

To attend, download the Scopia Desktop Client beforehand. On the morning of the video conference, visit http://sds.karen.net.nz/scopia?ID=6846&autojoin.

Just starting and need advice?

If you are interested in learning more about how HPC can assist your research, please get in touch. The easiest way to do this is to send an email to support@nesi.org.nz. You are also very welcome to attend our virtual office hour.

This call originally appeared in NeSI's monthly newsletter. To receive these updates directly, subscribe now.