NSF NCAR Strategic Capability (NSC) projects¶

The next NSC submission deadline will be March 18, 2025.

NSF NCAR Strategic Capability (NSC) allocations target large-scale projects lasting one year to a few years that align with NSF NCAR’s scientific priorities and strategic plans. These large-scale, high-priority projects are subject to review of their scientific merit, strategic importance, technical readiness, and broader impact. NSF NCAR researchers and computational scientists are encouraged to submit requests for NSF NCAR Strategic Capability (NSC) projects to be run on the Derecho system.

NSC proposals are accepted and reviewed every six months, in spring and fall. Proposals should follow the guidance in these instructions for preparing proposal documents, which apply to NSC project requests as well as to large university requests. NSC projects requiring more than one year’s allocation must submit continuation (renewal) proposals each year to report progress toward the project’s objectives and request the coming year’s allocation.

Potential submitters should apply to the NSC opportunity that best aligns with their project's anticipated timetable and readiness. In most cases, a project should consider the opportunity that starts shortly after their planned start, so that preliminary and benchmarking results can be submitted as part of the NSC proposal. A project for the same or similar work can receive an allocation only once a year.

To be considered for an NSC allocation, a proposed project:

• should relate to one or more specific priorities in the current NSF NCAR Strategic Plan.
• must be ready to begin production runs from the start of the allocation period. (Lab allocations can be used to perform benchmarking and test runs, and proposals should provide sufficient details to convince reviewers of the project's readiness.)
• must require significant computational resources, typically above and beyond the 10 million core-hour or 25,000 GPU-hours minimum levels.
• should have a well-defined scope and completion timeline.
• may be linked to an agency funding award or awards separate from NSF NCAR base funding.

NSC eligibility¶

All NSC project requests must have a full or part-time regular NSF NCAR staff member with an R or T appointment as project lead. In order for term employees to be eligible as project leads, the period of performance of the project should not extend beyond the employee's term date. Labs may choose to implement policies to coordinate the submissions from the lab in each request period. Joint work with university collaborators is eligible. Projects that span labs are encouraged, though a single project lead should be identified.

NSC allocations typically have a minimum request size of 10 million core-hours or 25,000 GPU-hours; exceptions can be granted for cause. Contact alloc@ucar.edu to discuss a possible exception. There is no maximum size limit, though in practice the review process will attempt to accommodate all meritorious submissions at some level, which may require reducing the amounts awarded to some projects. Consistent with the NSC objectives, NSC requests should not aggregate many smaller projects out of the same lab to meet the minimum request limit.

Because of the competitive nature of these allocations, labs may have chosen to coordinate submissions from each lab. Potential applicants are encouraged to contact their lab's or division's allocation representative before submitting a request.

NSC proposal format¶

NSC requests must prepare Proposal Documents, which should follow the guidance and structure for large allocation requests for universities. Notably, NSC requests must include a five-page summary along with relevant supporting documentation.

For those projects requiring more than one year’s allocation, a continuation request will need to be submitted as part of the next year’s NSC request and review process. The continuation request should include a short progress write-up according to the instructions for large allocation requests.

  Long-term storage plans for NSC project data in Campaign Storage should be coordinated with the requester's lab(s). 
  The data management plan section in your NSC request document should describe the arrangements made with your lab.

Review process and schedule¶

NSC requests are reviewed twice per year. Projects arising too late for NSC consideration will either need to wait, identify bridging allocations from NSF NCAR labs, or apply for startup allocations via the NSF NCAR Director’s Reserve. Such NSC pre-awards must satisfy the criteria for a Director’s Reserve award.

NSC requests are reviewed by a panel of computational scientists composed of representatives of each NSF NCAR lab and program who are appointed by the lab and program directors. This panel evaluates proposals according to the three criteria used by the CHAP in its evaluation of large university requests – the effectiveness of the methodology, the appropriateness of the research plan, and the efficiency of resource use. The technical readiness description also provides input into this aspect of the evaluation.

The relationship between the proposed projects and NSF NCAR’s strategic priorities is assessed by the NSF NCAR Directorate. This strategic assessment informs the priority ranking for NSC requests, which may be used when proposal requests exceed available resources to defer the start of some projects.

Should any awarded project encounter issues that require it to stop work or be unable to complete its proposed work, additional allocation awards may be made to unawarded requests in order of priority rank and as resource availability permits.