Applying for an XSEDE Allocation

Quick Description: NSF GRFP Recipients and Honorable Mention Awardees are provided with access to XSEDE. (For many other reasons, one should consider applying for NSF GRFP, but many awardees are unaware of their supercomputer privileges. If you have  collaborator who has recipient or honorable mention status, it's quite possible that they are not using their supercomputer time, and they probably wouldn't mind sharing with you...) Depending on what sort of work you would like to use supercomputer time for, you should apply with a certain computational goal in mind, for specific clusters that host the software you want, and for a reasonable amount of space and time. In line with the rest of this blog, here I show you how to apply for an allocation Stampede to gain access to VASP. However, the general process could be used as a guideline for another allocation application. I spent a lot of time reading up how to to apply and what qualified for a successful application. This is not necessary and please don't waste your time on such effort. Instead, see below.

The Point: If you have NSF or are honorable mention, apply for your XSEDE allocation in ~30 min.

Prerequisites: An XSEDE allocation.

Notes:

1. Log into your XSEDE account (you may have to activate this using your NSF GRFP fastlane login and other information).
2. Navigating to the Allocations page and Submit/Review Request tab, click "Start a New Submission" and choose "Guided Submission".
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• You should see the next round of available applications. Obviously, you may have to wait for a new round to open up, but they typically have several a year so there should be no issue. When I applied, it took me one week to hear back that I had been approved.
3. From here, it should be fairly obvious how to fill out each section, but there are many examples you can find on the XSEDE site.
   
4. If you are a graduate student, make sure to identify your NSF status. "On the first page (PI information) you will see a box to check if you are an NSF fellow. Check that box, and on the "Documents" section, please upload award letter." - Stephen Deems
• This is important because a) normally graduate students are not allowed to be PIs on a supercomputer allocation; b) you will be pretty much automatically approved for your allocation since you are already NSF approved
5. You should soon recieve an email like the one below.
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