ACCESS Staff Newsletter – May 2023

Inside ACCESS is a monthly newsletter produced for all ACCESS program staff. It contains program-wide announcements and updates from each of the program's service areas. Questions/comments? Email us at communications@access-ci.org.

Allocations Updates

Thanks to the support from their partners and several ACCESS RPs, the Allocations team has started development on two of the team's five innovative pilots, the Variable Marketplace and Campus On-Ramps. The team is also amidst a redesign of their web presence and is actively factoring in feedback received from the community over the past year of operations.

Update Your Publication Information

Has your use of ACCESS resources resulted in a publication? If so, please add your publication to the ACCESS publication database. The link can also be found by logging in and clicking on "My ACCESS" then "My Publications." The updated interface allows for publications to be added via DOI and also links the publication directly to the associated ACCESS project it resulted from.

This information greatly benefits the ACCESS program and NSF by demonstrating the scientific impact of these resources. This information is also useful to the reviewers of allocation requests. For guidance on how to cite ACCESS in your publications, please see the section on "Acknowledging ACCESS."

Support Updates

Don't Forget: CCEP Offers Travel Support!

With PEARC23 right around the corner and many planning for fall conferences, ACCESS Support would like to remind the community about the incredible travel grant program available to anyone 18+ at a US-based institution, the CSSN Community Engagement Program (CCEP). CCEP provides travel support ($750-$2,500) in return for your contributions to the community, such as ask.CI questions and answers, CI Links, and totally new contributions in the form of a grant submission of workshops, tutorials, and live events (to name a few). Please feel free to reach out directly to Alana Romanella with questions and comments regarding the program and how we can improve to meet your needs.

Operations Updates

New Resource Integration Options for Resource Providers

ACCESS has introduced three new resource integration options for ACCESS-allocated resource providers (RPs):

RPs can now deploy on their compute resources an ACCESS OnDemand Portal, which provides researchers with remote web access capabilities from any device, anywhere. A list of resources with OnDemand Portals is available here. Researchers can obtain help using OnDemand by opening a ticket. RPs can obtain help installing and configuring OnDemand by opening an Operations Request.
RPs can now use ACCESS Identity and Access Management (IAM) services to authenticate users accessing local services.
RPs can now obtain access-ci.org DNS subdomains in order to create and manage their own host and service DNS records under that subdomain.

These three new integration options are described in improved resource integration instructions (a.k.a. roadmaps) that have been recently published here.

Successful Launch of the STEP Program

The two-week Student Training and Engagement Program was held May 15-26. Early feedback from the participants has been very positive! Six of the students will participate in a full-time summer internship beginning June 5. A story about the program is in development.

Metrics Updates

NSF Review

Metrics had their annual NSF panel review on April 25-26. The panel provided some good verbal feedback, and the team await their written report.

Metrics Team at PEARC23

Metrics had two tutorials accepted for PEARC23, including the HPC Toolset tutorial and a tutorial on the new XDMoD Data Analytics Framework. In addition, Metrics will participate in the ACCESS tutorial. We also submitted a BoF which will inform the XDMoD user community about the latest developments in XDMoD and allow for an exchange of ideas among the members of the XDMoD community.

ACO Updates

ACCESS Staff In-person Meeting

Staff representing all ACCESS service teams will meet in person in Boulder, CO, June 26–27. The agenda can be found on the staff wiki.

Call for PEARC Presentations

Thanks to all who have been sharing proposed and accepted presentations on the staff PEARC wiki. If you have submitted and have yet to add your topic to this page, please do so, and the ACCESS Communications team can help promote your talk.

ACCESS Staff Profile: Meet Agbeli (Ag) Ameko

Get to know your virtual co-workers! This month, meet Ag.

What is your ACCESS role?

DEI Facilitator for ACCESS Allocations.

Where are you based?

I am based in Boulder, Colorado.

What do you hope to see within ACCESS in the future?

We would like to see ACCESS open up to a new set of HPC community members from Minority Serving Institutions and community members from fields not typically associated with these programs, such as the social sciences and community colleges.

What might we find you doing in your spare time?

I am a member of the National Ski Patrol and volunteer for a local Colorado nordic and backcountry ski patrol. I enjoy ski expeditions and am training to return to Greenland for an ice cap crossing next year. During summer months, I enjoy hiking, trail running, horse riding and ocean racing. Always learning new things and currently learning to snowkite.

ACCESS is supported by the National Science Foundation.