Research Computing

Technical support is provided to Princeton researchers for using our systems, for using other systems on campus, and for using regional and national resources.  Areas of support include:

• Getting started and running jobs on our systems
• Choosing which systems best fit your requirements
• Laying out jobs to get the best performance
• Troubleshooting run problems
• Transferring data

We provide programming and configuration support for High Performance Computing and Visualization software. Our services include:

• Troubleshooting malfunctioning programs
• Parallelizing existing serial codes
• Developing new parallel codes
• Training developers in parallel-style coding techniques
• Tuning software for maximum performance

Visualization services we provide include:

• Consulting with students, faculty and staff to select appropriate software tools
• Training/short-course development and delivery
• Assistance with geospatial and visualization codes and data formats
• Technical support for the visualization lab (346 Lewis Science Library)

The TIGRESS High Performance Computing Center and Visualization laboratory provide a suite of HPC and research computing systems and resources to meet the broad needs of the Princeton research community.  This suite is used by contributors and is also available to the entire Princeton research community through an application process.

Subversion is an open-source version control system designed for collaborative software development projects. It manages files and directories, and the changes made to them, over time. This allows you to recover older versions of your data or examine the history of how your data changed. Click here for more information.

Git is an open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. It is easy to learn, and has features such as light-weight local branching, convenient staging areas, and multiple workflows. Princeton University's Git service is hosted by GitHub. Click here for more information about Git. Click here for more information about GitHub.

Trac is an open-source web-based project management and ticketing tool. Features include: project management, ticket system, Wiki, timeline of all recent activity, customized reporting, version control system web interface, and RSS feeds. Click here for more information.

Our experienced system administration staff install and operate the TIGRESS systems including:

• System and cluster hardware
• Internal networks
• Operating systems
• Compilers, libraries, and middleware
• Broadly used applications

We also work with academic departments to advise and assist them with administering research computing systems.

There are a number of centrally managed data center and server room locations on campus.  These house not only enterprise and centrally managed research computing systems, but also systems owned by departments.  We are anticipating the opening of our new High Performance Computing Research Center (HPCRC) during the summer of 2011.  This state of the art facility will house most of the University's research computing systems, both centrally managed and departmentally owned.

Grant writing and administration services are provided through PICSciE to assist members of the research computing community at Princeton in the identification of potential funding sources and development of proposals for sponsored projects in areas such as equipment acquisition, research, allocations on high-performance computing (HPC) systems, education, training, and institutional activities, e.g., workshops and conferences.

The Office of Research and Program Administration (ORPA) is responsible for the final review of all grant proposals to make certain they conform to the current regulations of the University, State and Federal guidelines, and the potential sponsor before they are signed by a signatory officer of the University. Additionally, ORPA also collaborates with PICSciE in the post-award administration phase of the sponsored research project.  All contracts and agreements for sponsored projects are also negotiated and signed by ORPA.

Contact Ma. Florevel Fusin-Wischusen if you have any questions or if you need assistance.