The national HPC resource known as XSEDE has now fully transitioned to ACCESS, Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support.
ARC staff members, Todd Raeker and Shelly Johnson, are here to help you understand what is happening and how you can take advantage of the national resources and allocations.
ACCESS has streamlined the allocation application process. Many projects that formerly had to submit an annual allocation proposal under XSEDE may now fit within one of the new ACCESS opportunities for small or medium-sized projects. You can now make one request with a much shorter allocations proposal. You can also make these requests at any time, rather than wait for the quarterly deadlines. Allocations are awarded for the duration of a supporting grant or for 12 months, with possible extensions up to five years.
There are new tiers as well. With the new Discover tier, there are 1.5 million available credits, and is closer in line to annual allocation from XSEDE. Researchers can submit the one-page application anytime. Check the overview of the ACCESS opportunities to see where your project fits. If you find that your research activities are considered to be a large-scale project, you will need to submit a proposal for a Maximize ACCESS award. Requests for Maximize ACCESS are accepted every six months. More details are available on the Maximize ACCESS web page.
Are you a grad student researcher? You now qualify to apply as the principal investigator (PI) for an ACCESS allocation in the Explore ACCESS tier to obtain resources to help complete your dissertation. Graduate students will need to include a letter from their advisor to support the request, and advisors must be added as a co-PI.
If you are interested in assisting the national research and educational community by reviewing ACCESS allocation requests, you can sign up to join the ACCESS allocations review committee.
Need help? Contact arc-support@umich.edu, or visit the ACCESS web page on the ARC website. You can also keep up with ongoing updates on the ACCESS webpage, access-ci.org.
