LCRC FY2026 project renewals and new project requests are due by 5:00 PM CDT on Friday September 12, 2025.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
PIs requesting multiple projects should ensure that their total allocation request summed over all projects does not exceed 35000 node-hours per quarter on Bebop and Improv (individually) and 500 node-hours on Swing. Allocations will be subjected to maximum limit per PI (including PIs submitting multiple allocation requests). This limit is determined by total request from all PIs across the lab among other factors.
Backfill has been enabled on all LCRC clusters (Bebop, Improv and Swing). Projects that have exhausted their initial quarterly allocations should use the backfill queue till the end of the quarter (no mid-quarter allocations will be made). Details on using the backfill queue is available on the LCRC webpages.
Allocation requests received after the deadline will have to run in the backfill queue for FY2026-Q1.
Allocation requests must be made by PIs who are permanent ANL employees (post-docs and ANL staff scientists) or Argonne associates. Visiting students/faculty, resident associates/collaborators and those holding joint appointments should have their ANL supervisors be the PI on their projects and have them submit their FY2026 allocation requests. There will be a hold on allocation requests from non-permanent staff.
RENEW YOUR EXISTING PROJECT
To renew your existing project, please login here:
Navigate to each of the projects you lead on the left-hand navigation menu under ‘Owned’. Then update the information in each project for each field as changes are needed. It is recommended that PIs create a separate text document with the text required for updating your project information and cut-paste the relevant information in the appropriate boxes in the form as the webpage can timeout when unused. Please use a regular text editor for the preparation of your proposal. Cut-paste from MS-word documents into the boxes on the accounts page can transfer invisible characters that have caused problems to some users in the past (UTF-8 errors).
Make sure to update the project description highlighting your new plans for FY2026 and enter an allocation request for each quarter in the FY2026 section. Please fill in all 4 quarters on your request. If you do not have any time to enter for any of the boxes, please enter 0. If your project will extend over the entire fiscal year of FY2026 - please ensure that you request time for all the 4 quarters for each of the partitions (Bebop and Improv) and Swing (if needed). All time requests for Bebop, Improv and Swing should be in node-hours (not in core-hours). Once you check the box next to a partition and fill in the time-request for that partition, you can enter the details on your node-hour computations/scaling in the box marked "Request Allocation".
Please follow the example provided in https://accounts.lcrc.anl.gov/sample_project_request.pdf to show your node-hour computations in the ‘Request Allocation’ text box. Your request should indicate the typical size of the job (number of nodes), the typical time for a run and number of runs planned in each quarter. Projects requesting over 6000 node-hours/quarter on Bebop and 2000 node-hours/quarter on Improv should also include scaling studies. Scaling information can be shown in a simple tabular form (see screenshot shown in the sample project link). The strong scaling study is meant to justify the choice of the number of nodes used per job. Please do not provide a link to publications/reports that have scaling information or any code performance related discussions. All scaling related information should be included in the allocation request form for the request to be deemed complete. Incomplete information regarding your node-hour computations or scaling studies might lead to a reduction in the node-hours allocated to your project.
Note that unused time for a quarter expires at the end of each quarter. https://docs.lcrc.anl.gov/best-practices-and-policies/allocation-expiration-policy/ for the details of the policy.
Once all the data on the form is up-to-date and complete, press the ‘Save Project’ button at the top to submit the request. If you have trouble with your submission, please contact support@lcrc.anl.govwith the name of the project and the date and time that you requested the renewal.
REQUEST A NEW PROJECT
Requests for new projects for FY2026 are now being accepted as well. To submit a NEW project request, please login to the accounts page as noted earlier https://accounts.lcrc.anl.gov
Select the ‘Request New LCRC Project’ option on the left-hand navigation menu to create a new project. Please follow the same steps as described above to request allocation for FY2026 (Please follow the example provided in https://accounts.lcrc.anl.gov/sample_project_request.pdf. The node-hour computation and scaling details are the same as described above.
For projects requesting a renewal, a FY2025 Yearly Project Report is REQUIRED to have been submitted before FY2026 allocations will be started, where applicable. FY2025 Project Reports can be submitted by logging into your account at https://accounts.lcrc.anl.gov.
If you have any questions, please send an email to support@lcrc.anl.gov.