Advanced User Support

When the scientists and engineers who use high-performance resources at NCSA need more extensive support than can be provided by the Helpdesk or Consulting group, they call on the Advanced User Support (AUS) team. This group provides services in the following areas:

Application Support

The group using their domain expertise (in computational chemistry, structural engineering, and computational fluid dynamics, among other fields) to ensure that NCSA's users have access to the computational codes that they need. This includes ensuring the codes are installed and tested on NCSA resources (and assisting where possible with other XSEDE resources); ensuring that the codes have proper script support to function within the particular computational environment(s) where they are hosted; and providing proper module and database entries and site-specific documentation to allow users to efficiently use the codes. AUS provides domain-specific consulting support as needed, and work on XSEDE Extended Collaborative Support Services. Some application support experts also work with industrial clients through NCSA Private Sector Program.

Performance and Development Tools

AUS supports perfsuite and other performance tools on NCSA resources and supports the use of these performance tools through XSEDE collaborative projects. In addition, AUS is working to expand the use of advanced development environments (such as the Eclipse Parallel Tools Platform) through a project funded by the National Science Foundation, including driving user engagement and training through events at multiple conferences per year.

Proposal Development

AUS provides application performance projections collaboratively with vendors for responses to hardware acquisition proposals. AUS also works with users to develop "science stories" describing what they may be able to accomplish with proposed systems. This is a critical element of being able to respond competitively to NSF solicitations.

Visualization

The AUS team provides collaborative visualization support; his activity is supported through the XSEDE ECSS program.