Applying for an NHR project#
According to NHR Verein applying for compute time can:
Scientists with a doctoral degree who belong to a German accredited university are eligible to apply. Within the scope of the approved projects, non-doctoral scientists can also use the computers.
Scientific offerings#
NHR@FAU offers support especially in the area of performance optimization and atomistic simulations, i.e. molecular dynamics, chemistry, and certain areas of material sciences. Special experience is in particular available for Gromacs, Amber, and VASP.
Available compute resources#
We offer resources on two types of clusters for NHR projects:
- GPU cluster Alex:
- Nvidia A100 GPGPUs (with 40 or 80 GB RAM)
- Nvidia A40 GPGPUs (with 48 GB RAM)
- CPU cluster Fritz:
- Intel "Ice Lake" processors (2 x 36 cores) with 256 GB RAM
- Intel "Sapphire Rapids" processors (2 x 52 cores) with 1 or 2 TB RAM
NHR project types#
The review process typically takes less than 3 months. Test / porting projects will be decided within 3 – 4 weeks. Test projects are not available for FAU members.
Runtime for normal and large projects is 12 months. Normal projects with granted DFG or BMBF application can be applied for a runtime of up to three years, similar to the underlying application.
Details of the resource limits listed in the table are still subject to change.
| type of project | annual resources on Alex (GPU hours) | annual resources on Fritz (core hours) | reviews | remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| test / porting, runtime: 3 – 4 months | ≤ 3.000 | ≤ 500.000 | technical review | rolling call |
| starter, runtime: ≤ 12 months | ≤ 10.000 | ≤ 1.000.000 | technical review | rolling call, can only be requested once per group |
| normal for granted DFG or BMBF projects | A40: 6.000 – 60.000, A100: 4.000 – 40.000 | 1 – 10 M | technical review and simplified scientific review | rolling call |
| normal without granted DFG or BMBF projects | A40: 6.000 – 60.000, A100: 4.000 – 40.000 | 1 – 10 M | technical review and two external scientific reviews | rolling call |
| large with and without granted DFG or BMBF projects | A40: 60.000 – 180.000, A100: 40.000 – 120.000 | 10 – 30 M | technical review and two external scientific reviews | deadlines January/April/July/October 1st. |
| follow-up | as above | as above | technical review, external scientific review, intermediate report |
A scientific advisor from NHR@FAU will be assigned to a project.
Projects falling into the large category should also consider applying for compute time at one of the three federal Tier1 HPC centers of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS).
How to apply for an NHR project#
Via JARDS#
You can apply via the central online application portal JARDS.
Additionally, we require some supplemental information. Please fill out this template, save it as a single PDF, and upload it to JARDS, when you finish your application.
Template for NHR project report#
At the end of your NHR@FAU project you are required to write a report. Use this template for your report and send it from your university account to hpc-support@fau.de.
Acknowledgment#
Please acknowledge resources and the support provided by NHR@FAU, see Acknowledging resource usage for the exact wording.
Please also send electronic copies of these publications by email to nhr-redaktion@lists.fau.de. Proper acknowledgments of our services is important for our center's evaluation and its future funding.