Research Computing User Guide

Documentation covering the use of Research Computing resources.

Here are some quick links into the documentation to get you started.

Can’t find what you need? Provide feedback on the CURC docs!

More information is available at https://www.colorado.edu/rc.

If you have any questions, please contact rc-help@colorado.edu.

Courses using RC Resources

Students are welcome to use RC resources on their own for class projects and can request access as a regular UCB affiliate via the link off the RC homepage at: https://www.colorado.edu/rc. When requesting help please indicate that the work is for a class project and any deadlines. If students are to be required to use RC resources for a class, see below.

Instructors who wish to lead a class using RC resources must contact us at rc-help@colorado.edu before the class begins. This is to ensure that our resources can meet your needs and if adequate resources and support are available. Early in the process we will need to know details about the proposed class usage such as:

  • Number of students
  • Software needed, and if it will be installed by instructor/TA
  • Typical computational work (number of jobs or sessions, length, number of CPUs)
  • Date if 1st usage in class/lab
  • Class roster including TAs and auditors.

Acknowledging RC

Use of University of Colorado Research Computing resources, including (but not limited to) the Janus, Summit, and Alpine supercomputers, the Blanca Condo Cluster, and the PetaLibrary data storage service must be acknowledged in any and all publications.

Acknowledging Alpine: “This work utilized the Alpine high performance computing resource at the University of Colorado Boulder. Alpine is jointly funded by the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Anschutz, Colorado State University, and the National Science Foundation (award 2201538).”

Acknowledging Cumulus: “This work utilized the CUmulus on-premise cloud service at the University of Colorado Boulder. CUmulus is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (award OAC-1925766) and the University of Colorado Boulder.”

Acknowledging Summit: “This work utilized the Summit supercomputer, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (awards ACI-1532235 and ACI-1532236), the University of Colorado Boulder, and Colorado State University. The Summit supercomputer is a joint effort of the University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State University.”

Acknowledging Blanca: “This work utilized the Blanca condo computing resource at the University of Colorado Boulder. Blanca is jointly funded by computing users and the University of Colorado Boulder.”

Acknowledging PetaLibrary: “Data storage supported by the University of Colorado Boulder ‘PetaLibrary’”


Storage