// Requesting Computing Time as a Principal Investigator

If you are a NASA-sponsored scientist or engineer, computing time may be available for your project. Find out how to become a Principal Investigator (PI), obtain NASA High-End Computing (HEC) allocations, and fulfill reporting requirements.

Principal Investigators (PI's) are scientists or engineers who are funded by NASA. They may submit computing time requests for themselves and associated researchers. PI's may submit multiple requests, but each request must correspond to a unique NASA funding source. Requests that are based on new funding for an existing computational project can be submitted as a continuation of an existing Group Identifier (GID).

Allocation Awards for Computing Resources

The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is accepting proposal submissions for allocation awards to access computing resources at the NCCS at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Facility at the NASA Ames Research Center.

Submit your request via the HEC Request Management System (RMS).

For more details on HEC policy, please refer to the HEC website.

For the RMS User Guide and Quick-Start documentation, see below:

• RMS User Guide for Investigators
• RMS Quick-Start Guide

Requesting Computing Time

NASA HEC Request Submission Deadlines:

Requests submitted after the deadline will automatically be considered for the following quarterly allocation.

Typically, the person who submits the proposal becomes the Principal Investigator for both the proposal and the allocation award.

Reporting Requirements

Several brief reports are required from PI’s over the course of the allocation year. Annual reports should be submitted according to the directions in your funding award.

The HEC program will require:

• Entry Quad Chart - give general information about your research effort
• Results Quad Chart - update annually to highlight research completed using your allocation

      *Both will be entered and stored in RMS*

SBU Rates

The NCCS uses a Standard Billing Units (SBUs) for allocating and tracking computing time usage. The new SBU tracking system appears in usage reports October 1st, 2018 and beyond.

Account Set-Up Process