Call for Applications to the Supercomputer Time Allocation Committee (STAC) for Jan 2012 - Dec 2012

The ANU has a substantial share in the NCI National Facility which provides researchers with the most powerful computer in the southern hemisphere.

ANU researchers can access the system free of charge through ANU's internal allocation process (STAC) or through the national NationalComputational Merit Allocation Scheme (NCMAS). Applications to the NCMAS are more competitive and should generally be for larger projects only.

Applications are now called for awards of computer time by the STAC for the period of Jan 2012 - Dec 2012. The closing date for applications is 9am 07 December 2011.

Small 'Start-up Grants' are also available immediately to enable researchers to assess the usefulness of the Facility for their research and to assist in framing larger proposals to the STAC or NCMAS.

Resources Available

The peak system (vayu), installed in 2009/2010, is a Sun Constellation of approximately 12,000 compute cores, 36 TBytes of memory, 800 TBytes of disk storage, a peak performance of 140 Tflops, and provides an extensive software library that covers the gamut of scientific applications.

The Facility can also assist with all facets of data-intensive computation including analysis, collection management, curation, and fast databases, and offers large scale storage in its data cloud which is being upgraded for 2011.

Details on the resources can be found at http://nf.nci.org.au/facilities.

Who May Apply

Any ANU staff member may apply to the Supercomputer Time Allocation Scheme (with certain restrictions imposed by USA export conditions). Postgraduate students should apply through their supervisors.

How to Apply

The forms for applications to the Supercomputer Time Allocation Committee are available via the Partner Share project forms available on the http://nf.nci.org.au/accounts/ page. Make sure you select "ANU Supercomputer Facility" as the Partner you are applying under. The forms must be completed and submitted online.

Start-Up Grant application forms are also available at http://nf.nci.org.au//accounts/.

Applicants should read the policies and guidelines. The criteria for evaluating proposals can be found at http://anusf.anu.edu.au/policies/. The closing date for applications to the STAC is 9am 07 December 2011.

Applicants applying for a renewal of an existing project's grant please use the form "Existing Partner Share Project - continuation" which will significantly reduce the amount of data entry required.

Similar links to the NCMAS forms and policies can be found on the National Facility web page at http://nf.nci.org.au/accounts/. The closing date for applications to the NCMAS is extended to 9am 11 November 2011.

Proposals should be made now, but in special circumstances may be made at any time.

Advice and Support

Advice on completing the forms may be obtained from the ANU Supercomputer Facility. ANUSF staff are also available to discuss the suitability of the facilities and their environment to the proposed project, or advise if other facilities might be more appropriate. They are also available to help with the establishment and optimization of programs on the facilities.

Contact Details

ANU Supercomputer Facility
Leonard Huxley Building 56
Australian National University

Tel: (02) 6125 3437, Fax: (02) 6125 8199

Email:

http://anusf.anu.edu.au/