Research Computing offers computational resources and expertise to advance research and discovery. These services are available to ASU faculty, staff and students, as well as external affiliates with ASU accounts, at no cost.
If you are an instructor who would like to host a class on the ASU supercomputers, please use this ASU Supercomputer Course Allocations form. Students needing accounts for their coursework should ask their instructors to fill out this form.
Student researchers, external affiliates and some staff will require a faculty member or a principal investigator (PI) to sponsor their account and research activities on the supercomputers. The purpose of this sponsor is to ensure that these research activities are aligned with Research Computing’s policies and ASU’s mission and goals.
If you cannot complete this form because you do not have an ASURITE, contact us through our general form.
Account request form
Fill out the form below to request an account. Once your account has been created, you will receive a welcome email with onboarding instructions. If you do not receive this email, please direct inquiries to the #rc-support Slack channel or submit a help request.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What is a supercomputer?
A: Supercomputers, also known as high performance computing (HPC) systems or clusters, are powerful tools that advance research by bringing together thousands of processors, specialized hardware and high speed networks to solve difficult problems that would take regular computers far too long to complete. This technology has enabled discoveries in fields such as climate modeling, medical research, fluid dynamics, artificial intelligence and more.
Q: Why would I need access to a supercomputer?
A: Researchers may want to consider using a supercomputer if:
- Their models or computations cannot run on a personal workstation or laptop.
- They are working with very large datasets or need to read and write large amounts of data quickly.
- They need to run many calculations or complex simulations quickly.
- Their research involves machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) or similar computational methods.
- They are interested in using specialized hardware such as graphics processing units (GPUs), AI accelerators, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or large memory nodes.
Q: What if my research involves regulated data, such as HIPAA-protected health information?
A: If your research involves regulated data, you cannot run your workload on ASU’s public supercomputers. PIs should submit a request to the KE Secure Cloud (KESC). KESC provides consultations as well as secure computing and storage environments designed to meet regulatory requirements.
Q: How can I learn more about using ASU supercomputers for research?
A: We welcome you to attend Research Computing’s workshops and training opportunities.
Q: Does the account have a cost?
A: Access to the supercomputers is free of charge. However, certain associated services, such as project storage, may have costs. See the rates and services information for details.
Q: What if I want an account for the Aloe supercomputer?
A: The Aloe supercomputer is managed through KE Secure Cloud. If you would like to access Aloe, please submit a KE Secure Cloud service request.