NAIRR Pilot - National AI Research Resource (graduate students eligible)
Source: https://nairrpilot.org/opportunities/allocations
Description
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+ 1 The National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot is a federal program (NSF + DOE + NIH + DARPA + 26 partners including NVIDIA, Microsoft, AWS, Anthropic, OpenAI, Hugging Face) connecting US-based researchers and educators to AI compute, datasets, and foundation models at no cost. Graduate students can apply individually with a faculty support letter. Two main allocation classes: a fast-track Start-Up (3 months, decided in ~3 weeks) for new users / feasibility, and full Research/Educational allocations (12 months) for established projects. As of 2026 the pilot has supported 600+ projects and 6,000+ students.
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+ 7 Yes, if you are:
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+ 8 • A US-based researcher, educator, or graduate student at a US academic institution, non-profit, federal agency / FFRDC, state / local / tribal agency, or a startup / small business with a federal grant
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+ 9 • Able to use an institutional email (gmail/outlook/personal addresses are rejected)
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+ 10 • Doing AI / ML research that you can publish openly (this is a hard requirement: "All project results must be open and publishable")
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+ 11
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+ 12 No, if you are:
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+ 13 • Outside the US, or working at a non-US institution
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+ 14 • A grad student without a faculty advisor willing to write a one-page support letter
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+ 15 • Building closed / proprietary / commercial-only IP — output has to be public
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+ 21 ClassDurationDecision timeBest for
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+ 22 Start-Up3 months~3 weeksNew users, feasibility studies, one-resource trials
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+ 23 Research Resources12 monthsMonthly review (submit by 15th)Established research projects
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+ 24 Educational Resources12 monthsMonthly reviewClassroom / training use
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+ 25 Sandbox ProjectsvariesrollingQuick experimentation with NAIRR-hosted services
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+ 26 Deep Partnershipsvariesby invitationLarge-scale / cross-cutting collaborations
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+ 27
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+ 28 Start-Up is the recommended entry point for first-time users and grad students.
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+ 33
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+ 34 ResourceLimit
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+ 35 PSC Bridges-2 GPUup to 2,000 GPU-hours
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+ 36 Purdue Anvil AIup to 2,000 GPU-hours
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+ 37 SDSC Expanse AIup to 2,000 GPU-hours
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+ 38 TACC Vistaup to 2,000 GPU-hours
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+ 39 Indiana U Jetstream-2up to 128,000 SUs
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+ 40 Texas A&M ACESup to 480,000 SUs
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+ 41 DOE ANL AI Testbedup to 500 node-hours
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+ 42 PSC Neocortex (Cerebras CS-2)up to 50 CS-2 hours
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+ 43
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+ 44 Research / Educational allocations can request more on multiple resources at once (size justified by the proposal).
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+ 50 1. Go to nairrpilot.org/opportunities/allocations and pick the allocation class (Start-Up recommended for first-timers).
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+ 51 2. Create an account on the NAIRR Pilot Portal at submit-nairr.xras.org using your institutional email. Personal addresses (gmail, outlook, etc.) will be rejected.
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+ 52 3. Browse the Resource Catalog and choose the resource(s) you want (only one for Start-Up).
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+ 53 4. Prepare a 3-page PDF proposal covering: scientific/educational goal, methodology, why this resource, justification of requested amount, related funding/grants.
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+ 54 5. Graduate students: ask your faculty advisor for a letter of support (typically one page) confirming they are sponsoring your work. Upload it with the proposal.
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+ 55 6. Submit through the portal. Specify your preferred resource provider(s).
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+ 56 7. Wait for decision: ~3 weeks for Start-Up, end of month for Research/Educational if submitted by the 15th.
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+ 57 8. Once awarded, log into the chosen provider (PSC, SDSC, TACC, etc.) using the credentials NAIRR provisions, and start using the allocation. Awards last 12 months (or 3 for Start-Up).
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+ 58
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+ 59 Important:
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+ 60 • Only one resource per Start-Up request. Need more? Submit a Research Resources request later.
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+ 61 • All output must be publishable — no closed/proprietary results.
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+ 62 • Required progress reports at 1 month, 6 months, and final completion.
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+ 63 • Usage data is shared with partner agencies.
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+ 69 Grad students are explicitly eligible to submit their own proposals — you do not need your advisor to be the PI. What you do need:
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+ 70
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+ 71 • A letter of support from your faculty supervisor (mandatory). Typical contents: confirms you are their student, briefly endorses the research plan, confirms institutional affiliation. One page is enough.
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+ 72 • An institutional (.edu) email — the portal will reject signups from gmail/outlook.
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+ 73 • The same 3-page PDF proposal as everyone else.
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+ 74
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+ 75 No faculty letter is required for postdocs, faculty PIs, or staff researchers — only for grad students.
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+ 81 NAIRR aggregates compute, models, and data from US national labs, universities, and 26 industry partners. The full catalog is on submit-nairr.xras.org/resources and changes frequently.
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+ 82
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+ 84 • NSF systems: PSC Bridges-2 GPU, PSC Neocortex (Cerebras CS-2), SDSC Expanse AI, TACC Vista, Purdue Anvil, Indiana U Jetstream-2, Texas A&M ACES
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+ 85 • DOE systems: ALCF AI Testbed (Cerebras, Graphcore, Groq, SambaNova accelerators), OLCF, NERSC
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+ 86 • NIH: STRIDES cloud credits via AWS / Azure / GCP
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+ 87 • Industry partners: Microsoft Azure credits, AWS credits, NVIDIA DGX Cloud, Hugging Face
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+ 88
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+ 90 • OpenAI API credits
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+ 91 • Anthropic Claude API credits
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+ 92 • NVIDIA NIM-hosted models (Llama, Mistral, etc.)
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+ 93 • Hugging Face Inference Endpoints
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+ 94 • Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service access
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+ 95
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+ 97 • Curated public scientific datasets via partner platforms (NIH, DOE, NSF program data)
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+ 98 • Data hosting on partner clouds where licensing permits
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+ 99
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+ 100 Exact partner offerings rotate — always check the live catalog before drafting your proposal.
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+ 101
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+ 103
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+ 105
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+ 106 • Open-publishing requirement is non-negotiable. If your work is under an NDA or is commercial-only, NAIRR is not for you.
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+ 107 • Pick the right resource the first time. Start-Up only allows one resource per request; switching mid-allocation is painful.
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+ 108 • Submit Start-Up first, then upgrade to Research Resources once you have early results — the Start-Up serves as evidence the project is viable.
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+ 109 • The pilot is funded through 2026 with the goal of informing a permanent NAIRR. Allocations may be paused or restructured if Congress doesn't renew funding — submit early in the year.
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+ 110 • NAIRR does not provide a credit-card-equivalent generic budget. You request a specific resource (e.g., 2,000 H100 hours on Vista) and you use only that.
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+ 111 • For classroom use, Educational Resources is the right class — it's tuned for cohorts of students rather than a single PI.
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+ 112 • The 3-week Start-Up turnaround is real and consistent — much faster than DOE INCITE or NSF ACCESS Maximize.
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+ 113
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+ 115
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+ 117
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+ 118 • NSF ACCESS — non-AI-specific HPC allocations, also free for US researchers, no faculty letter required for grad students at the smallest tier (access-ci.org)
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+ 119 • DOE INCITE — large allocations (100K-1M+ node-hours) on Frontier/Aurora/Polaris, but very competitive
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+ 120 • EuroHPC AI Factories — EU equivalent
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+ 121 • NIH STRIDES — biomedical-specific cloud credits
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+ 122
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+ 124
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+ 125 Sources:
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+ 126 • NAIRR Pilot Allocations Overview
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+ 127 • NAIRR Pilot Start-Up Project Request
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+ 128 • NAIRR Pilot Getting Started
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+ 129 • NAIRR Pilot Proposal Instructions
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+ 130 • NAIRR Pilot FAQ
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+ 131 • NAIRR Pilot Submission Portal
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+ 132 • Columbia U NAIRR Guide
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+ 133 • Granted AI: NAIRR + AI Compute Grants 2026
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