What is ACCESS?

Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services and Support (ACCESS).

An NSF funded consortium that supports and shares access to the nation’s advanced computing systems and services – at no cost.

Researchers may apply for allocations of flexible pools of credits that can be converted to computational time on a range of large-scale computational resources.

What resources are available through ACCESS?

In general, available ACCESS resources can be classified as high performance computing (HPC), high throughput computing (HTC), visualization, data storage and transfer, testbeds, and services.

For a complete list, please visit the ACCESS Resources page.  Resources can be filtered by specific features, i.e., resource type, AI capabilities, as well as for more specialized needs.

How can I register an account?

ACCESS accounts, referred to as ACCESS IDs, are free of charge and can be registered via the ACCESS new user page.

Having an ACCESS ID does not automatically grant an allocation to resources. To leverage the resources provided through ACCESS, an application for an allocation must be completed. But registering an account is the first step to applying for, or being added to, an allocation.

What is an ACCESS allocation?

An ACCESS allocation is awarded in the form of ACCESS credits that can be exchanged for units on the available resources.

ACCESS defines allocations based the anticipated scale of the computational project.

What project types are available?

Once an ACCESS ID is registered, the allocation application process can be completed.

When requesting resources, ACCESS provides four tiered project types designed to support a range of needs.

Who is eligible to request an allocation?

To apply, the principal investigator (PI) must be a researcher or educator at a U.S.-based institution, including federal research labs or commercial organizations, though additional information may be needed from researchers not affiliated with academic or non-profit research institutions. A postdoctoral researcher is eligible to serve as PI. After receiving an allocation, PIs can request that students be given accounts to use the allocation.

For more information, ACCESS provides a comprehensive allocations policy.

How do I get started?

To get started, visit the get-your-first-project page which will walk you through the registration and allocation processes.

Does Lafayette have a campus contact?

Peter Goode, goodep@lafayette.edu, can provide guidance with questions.

What training is available for ACCESS?

ACCESS provides a comprehensive overview of its resources that enables them to be browsed and filtered by feature:

Access Resources

Documentation for the ACCESS project and its Resource Providers (RPs) can be found at the URL below:

ACCESS Documentation

ACCESS also publishes how-to content, supplemented by a YouTube channel, below:

ACCESS how to

@ACCESSforCI

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