NAIRR Pilot Start-Up Project Request for Entry-Level AI Compute Access

NAIRR Pilot Start-Up Project Request for Entry-Level AI Compute Access is sponsored by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in collaboration with U.S. federal agencies and industry partners. The NAIRR Pilot Start-Up Project Request is the entry-level track of the National AI Research Resource, giving researchers new to NAIRR quick access to GPU and AI computing resources for proof-of-concept work and scaling studies before submitting a full Research request.

NAIRR Pilot - NAIRR Pilot Start-Up Project Request NAIRR Pilot Start-Up Project Request Questions about this call or need help with allocation? Ready to submit a proposal? This call for allocation requests will be open when sufficient resources are available from one or more providers, beginning immediately and lasting until the end of the NAIRR Pilot program or until available resources have been exhausted.

Start-Up project allocation requests will be open for submission when there is capacity on resources, and closed when the systems are being fully used. The Proposer is expected to select only one resource for the Start-Up request unless a clear justification for multiple resources can be provided. Projects will be awarded for three (3) months durations.

The Start-Up project call is a result of an effort to ensure that researchers are fully prepared to effectively make use of NAIRR Pilot resources.

A Start-Up request is a smaller, lighter-weight request—and a review decision will be made within 2 weeks, making it an ideal entry point for researchers who are new to NAIRR Pilot resources or need some resource access in order to better understand and calculate their needs for a full-scale Research request .

For example, a Start-Up project might be used to do one or more of the following: get acquainted with the processes by which federally-coordinated computing and data resources are allocated build and test a software environment and/or workflow as a proof-of-concept on a particular resource perform a scaling study by executing a series of computations that use variously-sized subsets of data, parameters, tokens, or other components, to inform the detailed calculation of more significant resources for a subsequent full-scale Research request NAIRR Pilot Start-Up projects are awarded for three (3) months.

After the Start-Up, longer-term requests based upon well-informed resource requirements should be submitted to the NAIRR Pilot Research Opportunity at https://nairrpilot. org/opportunities/allocations . NAIRR Pilot Research projects are awarded for up to twelve (12) months.

The Start-Up project call is a result of an effort to ensure that researchers are fully prepared to efficiently make use of NAIRR Pilot resources. A Start-Up request is designed to be a smaller, lighter-weight request, making it an ideal entry point for researchers who are new to NAIRR Pilot resources or need some resource access in order to better understand their computing needs.

A Start-Up project provides researchers with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience, helping them build the foundation needed to prepare and submit a successful full NAIRR Pilot proposal. NAIRR Pilot Start-Up projects are intended to be completed within three (3) months. Projects with longer-term timelines should explore the NAIRR Pilot Research Opportunity at https://nairrpilot.

org/opportunities/allocations . NAIRR Pilot Research projects are awarded for twelve (12) months. >> Start-Up projects have the same eligibility requirements as other NAIRR Pilot opportunities.

They are open to meritorious proposals by US-based researchers and educators from US-based institutions including academic institutions (including graduate students with a support letter from a faculty advisor), non-profits, federal agencies or federally funded R&D centers, state, local, or tribal agencies, startups and small businesses with federal grants. Assignment of supported proposals will be guided by these constraints.

Please note you must use your institutional email address when submitting a NAIRR allocation request. Submissions using a personal email address such as “@gmail. com” addresses will not be considered.

Start-Up proposals may ask for use of one resource only. You can ask for up to 2,000 GPU-hours on PSC Bridges-2 GPU, Purdue Anvil AI, SDSC Expanse AI, or TACC Vista; up to 128,000 SUs on Indiana U’s Jetstream-2 and up to 480,000 SUs on Texas A&M’s ACES – equivalent to 2,000 GPU-hours on those resources; up to 500 node-hours on the DOE ANL AI Testbed; or up to 50 CS-2 hours on PSC Neocortex.

This call for allocation requests encompasses projects covering any of the following cross-cutting focus areas: Cross-cutting focus areas: Advancing AI methods that enable scientific discovery and improve AI interpretability, security and trust. Accelerating time to science and innovation through AI enabled automation, autonomy and novel design and control processes.

Applying AI to use, share, or integrate sensitive data from multiple sources to enable new experimental methods and discovery. Advancing approaches for integrating simulations and AI. Creating or developing open-source AI tools, models, datasets, and methods.

Training and educating the next generation AI-savvy workforce Other projects that align with the broader objectives of the NAIRR Pilot, as well as projects in other areas of AI research and applications, may secondarily be considered for allocation. It is anticipated that Start-Up project requests will be evaluated and a determination made within 3 weeks of submission of a Start-Up request.

All persons submitting proposals should note the following parameters and expectations: Start-Up project recipients must be ready to begin using the allocated resource within two weeks of receiving the award. Because of the strong public component of the NAIRR Pilot, all project results must be open and publishable.

Teams who receive NAIRR Pilot access are expected to publish their results in the open scientific literature or otherwise disseminate publically, and to make all project products publically available, to the extent possible. The NAIRR Pilot wishes to catalyze open, pre-competitive results that can impact the future of the NAIRR.

If a PI believes that a project will result in commercializable intellectual property (IP), the PI should discuss directly with the assigned resource provider to determine if commercialized IP requirements can be accommodated. All supported projects will have the name of the principal investigator (PI), their affiliation, the project title, and project abstract posted on the NAIRR Pilot website.

All project PIs will be added to a NAIRR Pilot mailing list to foster a community of NAIRR Pilot researchers. Project PIs are expected to provide a final report (one page) upon project completion. Project PIs may submit a full NAIRR Pilot proposal in lieu of a final report, but that must include a report on progress with the Start-Up request.

For reporting purposes, the NAIRR Pilot collects information about how all participants use NAIRR Pilot-allocated resources. Usage information is collected initially by individual Resource Providers, which in turn is shared with the NAIRR Pilot. The NAIRR Pilot may share this usage information, typically in aggregate form but potentially unfiltered, with funding agencies and researchers.

Submitters must complete a form outlining the proposed research and confirm that they are prepared to start using allocated resources within two weeks of the start of the allocation period. As part of the process of completing the form, researchers should only include information about funding grants that directly support the work to be done using the proposed allocation.

Proposals for research activities without merit-reviewed support are subject to additional review regarding the scientific merit of the work. Graduate students submitting a Start-Up request are required to submit a letter of support from their faculty supervisor. Proposals will be accepted starting May 16, 2025 through the end of the NAIRR Pilot program or until all available resources have been committed to projects.

Start-Up project proposals will be open for submission when there is capacity on resources, and closed when the systems are being fully used. All proposals will go directly to resource providers for assessment and matching.

Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria: Alignment with the NAIRR Pilot focus areas; Project readiness and potential for near-term progress; Feasibility of the technical approach; Need for the computing, support, or other resources available in the NAIRR Pilot Questions about this call or need help with allocation?