National Computational Merit Allocation Scheme
Information for Applicants
Applications for the 2014 National Computational facilities Merit Allocation Scheme (NCMAS) are now open. The NCMAS committee allocates a proportion of time on the following facilities.
Resource
NCMAS Share
Computing time (Million SU)
iVEC Murdoch - Epic (HP Cluster)
15.00 %
11.20
iVEC UWA - Fornax (SGI GPU)
15.00 %
1.44
iVEC Pawsey - Magnus (Cray)
15.00 %
2.9 (Jan-June ONLY)
NCI NF - Raijin (Fujitsu)
15.00 %
72.00
SF Bioinformatics - Barrine (SGI cluster)
18.73 %
1.60
SF Visualisation - MASSIVE
14.60 %
2.50
VLSCI - Avoca (IBM Blue Gene/Q)
15.00 %
20.00
TOTAL
122.18 MSU
In line with the NCMAS guidelines that no single project can be allocated in excess of 5% of the combined total of the resources available to the NCMAS committee, in general no project will be allocated more than 5% of the resources for any given facility. The values given are in millions of service unit equivalents (MSU). Further information about the NCMAS as well as eligibility criteria and application procedures can be found at http://ncmas.nci.org.au.
The application procedures for 2014 will differ slightly from previous years. These new procedures are intended to simplify assessments and to remove ambiguities regarding the allocation of time to larger groups.
NCI is in the process of updating the online application form for 2014. We expect the new form to be up-to-date and fully operational after 18 Oct 2013. We apologise for this delay. In the interim, applications can be started using the existing form. Data entered by users will be automatically transferred to the new form when available. NCI will announce on this website when the form is fully operational.
There are four main changes:
1. Each researcher can be a Chief Investigator on ONLY one application.
Current super-projects, which have in the past submitted multiple linked projects, are requested to submit a SINGLE application that includes all relevant CI's. Note that the lead CI on a successful NCMAS application would normally be expected to be the senior researcher within a given group, or organisation. Allocations will be judged on the combined records of all participating CIs. Please note that facility operators will provide mechanisms that allow the management of resources granted among sub-projects.
2. The required length and rigour of the proposal will depend on the allocation requested.
This change is intended to a) to help the NCMAS Allocation Committee more rigorously assess larger requests and
b) to simplify the applications procedure for smaller requests. It will also allow collections of researchers to include multiple projects in a single application. The maximum length of a proposal will depend on the number of Service Unit equivalents requested. The maximum combined allocation that will be considered by the committee is 5,000,000 SU (5 MSU.)
Request (Service Units)
Proposal Requirement
5,000,000 (5 MSU)
1500 words (6 pages)
1,000,000 - 4,000,000 (1-4 MSU)
1000 words (4 pages)
100,000 - 1,000,000 (0.1-1 MSU)
500 words (2 pages)
Less than 100,000 (<100 KSU)
250 words (1 page)
In each case, applicants must justify why NCMAS resources are needed. For requests below 20,000 SU per year, researchers must indicate what special features of the national facilities are, in fact, required.
3. Requests will be quantized within each range.
All requests must be justified in terms of the nature of the calculations to be performed. However, to simplify the task of the Allocation Committee, time will be allocated in terms of specific quanta.
Request (Service Units)
Allocation Increment (SU)
> 2,000,000
500,000
> 500,000
100,000
> 100,000
50,000
<100,000
20,000
4. Special Allocations.
A small number (
