Access for Students

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Access for Students

The Research Computing and Cyberinfrastructure (RCC) group fully supports students doing research and other computationally heavy projects using BigDawg. This experience not only prepares you to use the most powerful academic High Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC) in the U.S., but gives you experience running computationally-rich projects and analyzing “big data.” Students who want to use BigDawg may request access to the HPCC as part of a research team or with the support and under the supervision of an SIU faculty member.

BigDawg is available to you by request and at no cost—however, student access must be monitored and supervised by an SIU researcher/faculty member. Currently, there are no subject restrictions on projects—especially those supporting research. Similarly, there is no restriction on time used. Scheduling is on a first-come-first serve basis, although projects that require days or weeks of continuous time may be interrupted to allow other projects timely access to BigDawg.

The RCC assists SIU Students working with researchers and faculty with computationally intense projects. Contact the RCC about services such as project consultation, collaborative grant writing, and technology support.

Request Access

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The RCC shows perferrence to projects that:

  • Benefit multiple areas of the University 
  • Run in parallel or across distributed nodes
  • Are supported by grant income
  • Attract additional grant income
  • Enrich learning and the student experience
  • Involve student participation
  • Are currently in process
  • Use existing resources
  • Run free or low-cost software
  • Support campus-based issues and initiatives
Although you may be granted access and credentials, you will still need to attend a BigDawg startup session before you can log on to the High Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC). For additional information about the Research Computing and Cyberinfrastructure (RCC) group contact us at research-computing@siu.edu or complete the form to request access to BigDawg, SIU's HPCC. Note: Student research projects must have a faculty sponsor and access must be supervised.