This call is open to meritorious proposals by US-based researchers and educators from US-based institutions including academic institutions, non-profits, federal agencies or federally funded R&D centers; state; local; or tribal agencies; startups and small businesses with federal grants. However, the individual resources available via this call may have differing eligibility rules. Assignment of supported proposals will be guided by these constraints.

Overhead rates do not apply to cloud resource providers. Also, cloud vendor credits are made available to NAIRR projects.

References need not count against the three-page limit. The main document must still be no more than three pages and address all the proposal criteria. You may attach a separate References document (up to 5 pages).

Requestors are asked to justify the amount of requested resources based on the proposal’s nature, scientific significance, and computational needs. If your proposal is deemed meritorious and the estimated resource need exceeds availability of the selected resource, the project will be moved to a resource or resources that can accommodate the need to the extent possible based on availability of resources.

The "Choose for me" option will not affect how your proposal is considered. If you select that option, you should still provide details that help the reviewers understand the kinds of resources that would be appropriate for your project. For example, if you know you need GPUs, the estimated number of GPU-hours and the types of GPUs on which your codes have already been run would be useful information.

See How long should we anticipate waiting to receive a response after submitting our application for NAIRR?

Typically, requests submitted by the 15th of the month will be reviewed and have their outcome decided by the end of the following month. This may vary during peak times. We appreciate your patience!

Yes, focus areas can be found at https://nairrpilot.org/opportunities/allocations

Your allocation information will be provided to the Resource Provider shortly after the award. The resource Provider will then reach out to you regarding the specifics of your allocation. This can take a few weeks after award and may vary during peak times. We appreciate your patience! Once you have your allocation you can request to add users. See How do I add users to my allocations?

If our preliminary allocation is incorrect how do we schedule a meeting or get a consult set up for adjusting it? In general changes to allocations including switching RPs or increasing the size of the allocation are not permitted. Changes to start and end dates may be negotiated with the Resource Provider by opening a ticket with your request.

When you publish your research based on the use of NAIRR pilot-provided resources, please include following language in your acknowledgments (including resource specific snippet provided in the table below, as appropriate).

This research is supported by the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot and [AWARDED-RESOURCE-ACK]

As per the eligibility requirements, the NAIRR Pilot Project requires that all NAIRR resources be used by U.S. institutions located in the U.S. (e.g. a university in the U.S.) The Add User and form must be completed by the Awardee and the User Attestation form must be completed by the new user to attest that this is the case for your research project and team. Note that there is no need for the awardee to complete their own attestation form.

If my student or collaborator will be traveling out of the country for the summer, can they still work on my NAIRR project and use the allocations? If a student or PI is out of the country and is affiliated with a US-based institution, they can access NAIRR Pilot-supported resources. If they are not affiliated with a US-based institution they should not be using NAIRR resources.

Does it mean that only Americans in the US can participate and use the resources? No. Citizenship does not impact general eligibility, although some NAIRR Pilot resources may have differing eligibility rules.

Can foreigners based in US participate and use the resources? Yes, but they must be affiliated with a US-based institution.

The NAIRR Pilot Project requires that all users of NAIRR resources be used by U.S. institutions located in the U.S. The following forms are required for attesting that this is the case for your research project and must be followed to submit new user requests.:

1. Log into the NAIRR Pilot Submit portal with your ORCID credentials.
2. Click on the Add User Forms menu.
3. Select and complete the Add User form. This should be completed by the awardee.

   

4. Once you complete the form, a ticket will be automatically created in NAIRR ticketing system.
5. Let your additional users know they will also need to log into this page and select and complete the User Attestation form.

Just following up on this request to add user. They need to complete the form themselves now and we still have not received it. Here are their steps:

1. Log into the NAIRR Pilot Submit portal with your ORCID credentials.
2. Click on the Add User Forms menu.
3. Select and complete the User Attestation form (2nd item in menu).

Project PIs are expected to provide brief (~2 paragraphs) project updates 1-month and 3-months into the project, and a final report (three pages) after award.
They can be submitted via the NAIRR Pilot Submit portal:

1. Go to NAIRR Pilot Submit portal
2. Visit "My Allocation Requests"
3. Using the dropdown next to their awarded allocation request, select Progress or Final report
4. 4. Upload document and submit the form

If your project start has been delayed and you do not have an allocation you should still submit a project status report 1 month after the award start date with a short paragraph describing the current status.

There are no defined upper limits on the amount of computational resources you can request either on a specific resource, or in aggregate if you request multiple resources.

It is recommended that you select one of the available resources that is suitable for your work, unless your project has a specific need to run at multiple sites—for example, in the case of a distributed learning framework.

Descriptions of several partner-contributed resources were given at a recent NSF-hosted Partner Showcase webinar, the recording of which can be found at https://new.nsf.gov/events/nairr-pilot-partner-showcase/2024-05-21. Future information sessions on available resource will be held over the following months.

The NAIRR pilot currently provides infrastructure resources for research engagements, and does not provide funding for the research work itself. As such, applicants are expected to have existing funding sources to support the research activities.

Should a given project consist of multi-disciplinary efforts involving a team of AI researchers, domain scientists, and/or cyberinfrastructure specialists who are undertaking specific research challenges that innovatively use, integrate with, or rely on one or more NAIRR Pilot requestable resources, they may wish to consider responding to the recent NSF Dear Colleague Letter for NAIRR Pilot Demonstration Projects.

Privacy and security capabilities are indeed implemented on a per-resource basis. As such privacy and security capabilities may differ between different resource providers.

You may reach out to NSF staff at NAIRR_Pilot@nsf.gov should you wish to become a contributing resource partner with the NAIRR Pilot.