BU-AIRR Call for Proposals
The call for applications period has now closed. Check back for announcements of future calls.
The BU AI Research Resource (BU-AIRR) is a resource program established by the Office of Research and the Hariri Institute for Computing aimed at enabling and seeding large-scale AI research at Boston University by funding access to powerful production cloud resources of the New England Research Cloud (NERC).
AI research increasingly requires large amounts of computational resources (in the form of Graphics Processing Units – GPUs) that in their most advanced form have a cost that is beyond the reach of individual research groups. As a result, much of the advanced AI research to train large deep neural network models is performed on the cloud.
NERC offers access to top-of-the-line CPUs, storage solutions, a number of Nvidia A100 GPUs, and has recently acquired 192 Nvidia H100 GPUs that are expected to go on-line in December 2024. NERC is a fee/hour service available to any BU researcher, and researchers from several other institutions.
In September 2024, a call for applications was issued to solicit applications from BU faculty interested in access to the cloud services for research through the New England Research Cloud (NERC).
In January 2004, we announced that 2024 BU-AIRR program awarded $290,000 to 26 AI research projects from 35 BU faculty members affiliated with six colleges and 13 departments. Funding was made possible through contributions from the Hariri Institute, the College of Engineering, the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and the Office of Research.
Learn about the 2024 BU-AIRR program awardees here.
Learn about 2024 Call for Proposal Submission requirements below. For any questions, please reach out to Nancy Clinton, at nclinton@bu.edu.
Proposal Requirements
Proposers should apply by filling out the web form below. Researchers can either upload a PDF or select the “Proposal Form” option to provide responses to prompts directly in the web form. Proposals are due November 16, 2024, with rolling acceptance of proposals after the due date, if funding permits. The length of the proposal should be around one page and should not exceed two pages using font and formatting instructions applicable to NSF proposals. References are excluded from the page length limit. The proposal should include the following components:
1. Scientific Goal and Potential Impact
Please explain the scientific goal and potential impact of your project.
2. Estimate of GPU Compute and Storage
Please provide detailed information about the number of experiments, what each experiment will entail, and an estimated number of NVIDIA A100 or H100 GPU hours and the specific cost associated with those hours. Please “show your work” in coming up with estimates. NERC pricing can be found here.
3. Sponsored Programs that will be Enabled
This can include current projects and future proposed projects. Provide specifics about current projects (PIs, title, sponsor, award number, dates, and amount) and future proposed projects (program, sponsor, agency, deadlines).