Delta Allocations

Types of Delta Allocations

Please see the Delta Allocations page on the Delta website for a general discussion of the opportunities and recommendations.

Allocation Type	Portion of Delta Allocated	Description
ACCESS	90%	Open continuously - See Get Started with ACCESS Allocations for more details.
Illinois	5%	A modest portion of the system is available for Illinois researchers who have not been able to make use of the national allocation process such as ACCESS.
Innovative/Exploratory	2%	Open continuously - allocations awarded at the PI's discretion
Diversity	1%	EPSCoR, MSI, and HBCUs
Data Science	1%	Data Science research projects
Science Gateways	1%	Delta Science Gateways projects in partnership with the Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI)

Delta - ACCESS Allocations

90% of the Delta system is allocated through the ACCESS program.

To get started with ACCESS allocations, see the Get Started with ACCESS Allocations page.

ACCESS resources are allocated on an ongoing basis through Explore, Discover, and Accelerate allocations, and periodically through Maximize allocations.

Delta - Illinois Allocations

A modest portion of the system is available for Illinois researchers who have not been able to make use of the national allocation process such as ACCESS and is available throughout the year.

To inquire about Illinois allocations, please email help@ncsa.illinois.edu

Start-up awards of up to 1,000 GPU hours and 50,000 CPU core hours may be requested for test runs and to determine full allocation request needs. Typical allocation awards scale up to 25,000 GPU hours or 690,000 CPU core hours.

Delta Illinois allocations generally require a brief proposal document including:

A brief (1-2 paragraph) overview of the research questions you intend to explore and how you will use Delta in your investigation.
Letter of collaboration if a Graduate Student.

Delta - Innovative/Exploratory, Diversity, and Data Science Allocations

A small portion of the Delta system is awarded at the PI's discretion for innovative/exploratory research projects. Calls for proposals occur periodically at the PI's discretion.

To get started with Innovative/Exploratory, Diversity, and Data Science allocations please send an email to help@ncsa.illinois.edu.

Delta - Science Gateway Allocations

1% of the Delta system is awarded for Delta Science Gateways projects in partnership with the Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI). Calls for proposals occur annually.

A Delta Science Gateways proposal (up to 2 pages, not including references) should describe:

Research Description
Educational goals and objectives of the community
The demographics of the community (number of participants, geographic coverage, etc)
A description of the codes or applications to be implemented as tools in the gateway, along with statements on level-of-readiness and whether it is already GPU-enabled,
Anticipated usage in terms of job size, duration, etc.
Community development and engagement model

To get started with Science Gateway allocations, follow the instructions for Requesting a "New" Delta Allocation, listed below.

Requesting a "New" Delta Allocation

If you do not already have an NCSA account, create an NCSA Kerberos account at this link. *Account creation may take up to 24 hours once requested, please plan accordingly.

Visit the NCSA XRAS proposal submission portal

Select the appropriate Delta opportunity for your request:

- "Start a New Delta Illinois Submission.
- "Start a New Delta Discretionary Submission.
- "Start a New Delta Science Gateways Submission.

Complete your request by providing the data requested by the form:

Select “New” request.
Add a title and abstract for your submission.
Select the relevant fields of science.
A University Faculty or Staff researcher must be designated as the Principal Investigator (PI) for the request. Other individuals can be added as co-PIs or Users (but they must have NCSA Kerberos accounts).
Enter any supporting agency awards, as applicable. This is not required, but may assist the review committee in evaluating the proposals.
Under Available Resources, select the appropriate resources and indicate the requested amount of each.
In the Documents section, select "Add Document" and upload any supporting documents.
1. Only PDF files can be accepted.
2. If you do not wish to submit any supporting documents: Select the orange "Remove" button and any documents indicated as required (*with a red asterisk) will no longer be required for form submission.
At the bottom of the page, select "Submit." If necessary, correct any errors and submit the request again.

Requesting an "Extension" or "Supplement" for an existing Delta allocation

Visit the NCSA XRAS proposal submission portal

Select the "My Allocation Requests" link (see images to the right).
Find the project you would like to request an extension or supplement for in the "List of NCSA Allocation Requests" table. Using the dropdown menu next to that request, select Extension or Supplement.
Fill out the resulting form to request an Extension or a Supplement