Compute/Calcul Canada has partnered with Super Micro to offer a High-Performance Computing platform for humanities researchers. Super Micro has kindly donated a HPC system that Compute Canada will make available with support to humanists. To get access you have to apply through the National Resource Allocation process. It isn’t clear what you do as a humanist.
Here is the English text of the call:
Compute Canada National Resource Allocation
Call for Proposals September 2011
Principal Investigators (PIs) at Canadian academic institutions who require access to High Performance Computing (HPC) resources on Compute Canada systems are hereby invited to submit proposals requesting allocations of CPU time and storage to Compute Canada (https://computecanada.org). In addition to offering access to computing resources with an aggregate peak of well over 1 PetaFlops of compute power and more than 5 Petabytes of storage, Compute Canada offers applications-?enabling assistance from HPC experts at the regional consortia.
Allocations will be valid for one year, beginning January 2012. Under exceptional circumstances and for long term national and international projects an extended timeframe may be granted. Allocations of longer than one year will be subject to NRAC (National Resource Allocation Committee) approval and will require the submission of an annual progress report.
1. Submission of a Proposal
This call for proposals is aimed at PIs who require greater than the default allocation on any system. All applicants must complete the online application form on the CCDB: https://ccdb.computecanada.org/allocation/list_applications.
Any individual who is eligible to apply to national granting councils for funding is eligible to apply for an allocation. Typically, this means that regular faculty are eligible to apply while postdoctoral fellows and graduate students are not. Individuals who have adjunct status may apply for an allocation if the project for which the allocation is requested is eligible for funding from CFI or the granting councils. A lead PI cannot submit more than one individual application, but can be a participant in other submissions.
Note that a proposal is not required in order to get access to Compute Canada systems. Any Canadian academic researcher may obtain a “default allocation” on any Compute Canada system at any time by registering with the Compute Canada DataBase (CCDB) (https://ccdb.computecanada.org/account_application) and then requesting accounts at one or more consortia. The size of default allocations vary by system; please consult the list of resources (https://ccdb.computecanada.org/browse/resources_in) page for more details.
2. Technical aspects
It is strongly recommended that all applicants consult with the Compute Canada technical staff
responsible for the systems they intend to use well before completing their proposal. This ensures that the technical aspects of the proposals match well with the requested systems, to the PI’s benefit. PIs who have not previously used Compute Canada systems MUST discuss their proposal with Compute Canada technical staff before submission.
Please do this before October 3rd so that we have time to help you. If you do not know how to contact your local team, please write to rac@computecanada.org.
3. Submission Date
Proposals must be submitted electronically to Compute Canada on or before October 18, 2011 at 3pm (Eastern).
4. Evaluation of Proposals
Proposals will be evaluated and applicants notified by email in December.
Applications will be judged according to the quality of science, the excellence and expertise of the PI and the technical merits of the proposal. The need for the computing resources, the availability of resources, the impact on other high quality projects, the suitability of the resources being requested, and past experience of deploying and using the requested resource(s) with the code proposed will also be evaluated.
5. Privacy Policy
Confidentiality of information
Compute Canada will safeguard the information that it receives from applicants. It instructs reviewers to keep all information confidential and to use it only for review purposes. All proposals will be available for review by all RAC (Resource Allocation Committee) members.
Use of Personal Information
All personal information collected by Compute Canada is used to review applications. Such information may be shared with relevant officials in the relevant consortium and/or with their research institution.
Public Information
Compute Canada will post the following information on its website for allocations provided:
Name Department/Institution Project Title
Research Summary AllocationQuestions regarding any aspect of this call can be addressed to Susan Baldwin, Executive Director, Compute Canada at susan.baldwin@computecanada.org.