NSF hosted town hall to outline what users can expect from new ACCESS program

The National Science Foundation (NSF) held a virtual town hall June 14 to introduce new information and answer questions about the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services and Support (ACCESS) program, the follow-on to XSEDE that will begin operations in September.

The town hall was led by Tom Gulbransen, the NSF program officer for ACCESS, and the program's five principal investigators presented information about each of the different ACCESS tracks.

Below is a sampling of questions from the meeting.

Q: The XSEDE help desk has been essential when something does not work and typically quickly resolves issues, thus minimizing downtime for researchers utilizing their allocations. What is the point of contact for help under ACCESS?

A: Our expectation is that the community will continue to be able to submit requests for support through our new portal.

Q: What about educational allocations? Are these going to be supported?

A: Yes. Educational allocations will be supported. PIs can align these requests with the new tiers.

Q: Will there be a way to renew a current (long-running, multi-year) XSEDE allocation into an ACCESS allocation or do we have to make a brand new proposal?

A: Yes. Initially, all XSEDE allocations will be "mapped" to the new tiers available within ACCESS. Near the expiration of those allocations the option to renew will be available.

A full recording, transcript and slides of the meeting can be found here on the NSF website.