NUG Charter

Purpose

The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) is the principal provider of high performance computing services to Office of Science programs. NERSC's mission is to accelerate scientific discovery at the DOE Office of Science through high performance computing and data analysis. NERSC Users Group (NUG) is the users group for the NERSC facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. NERSC is developed and maintained under the auspices of the Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Through the Executive Committee, NUG provides feedback and advice to  NERSC on the current state and future of NERSC resources and services. NUG exists to promote effective communication between NERSC and its users, collaborate with the center to enhance user productivity,  and help ensure that NERSC continues to be a valuable world-class HPC resource available to the DOE Office of Science user community.  To these ends NUG will maintain communications through appropriate means, such as regular meetings, electronic mailing lists, shared databases, and webpages. In addition, NUGEX  promotes a vibrant user community and inter-disciplinary exchange of ideas and experiences.

Membership

All principal investigators with a reviewed resource allocation at NERSC, and all active users associated with such research accounts, are automatically members of NUG. Participation in the activities of NUG is open to all NERSC users. NERSC will provide staff and administrative resources to facilitate the meetings and other business of the NERSC Users Group.

Executive Board (NUGEX)

The organizational body for NUG is its Executive Board (NUGEX) and manages activities of the User Group. It consists of twenty-one user representatives who are each to maintain awareness of, and represent, the interests of the user community. Each of the six program offices of the Office of Science (BER, BES, HEP, NP, OASCR, and OFES) will have three representatives on NUGEX. Three additional members of NUGEX will represent the user community at large. The Chair of NUGEX and an Executive Board will coordinate the NERSC User Group activities and initiatives. The members of this Executive Board will be elected by the NERSC User Group members in elections administered by NERSC with the help of NUGEX. All terms are for a duration of three years. The three year terms are for three consecutive calendar years. Approximately one-third of the available NUGEX positions are elected annually. There are no term limits.

The NUGEX Chair and the Vice-Chair will be elected by the members of the Executive Board from among its ranks annually following the election of new members. NERSC will solicit nominations and conduct the election of the Chair and Vice-Chair from among NUGEX members. The Chair of NUGEX is responsible for convening NUGEX at regular intervals, and assures that NUG can carry out its purpose effectively. The Vice Chair will take on the Chair's responsibilities, whenever the Chair is not available. 

Topics which require voting, such as charter adoption and changes or new permanent working groups, will use a simple majority approach. People who do not participate are assumed to agree with the proposed changes. NUGEX will have a minimum of two days to respond to electronic requests for votes. The NUGEX Chair will provide the results of voting to NERSC.

Task Forces and Working Groups

When appropriate, the Executive Board of the NERSC User Group will appoint task forces and working groups to address specific issues related to NERSC. The NUGEX will name the subcommittee membership, the responsible lead of the subcommittee, and its charge. Such subcommittees should be formed from the appropriate experts and interested parties. The leadership and/or membership may include persons outside NUG. Such subcommittees should regularly report back to NUG at its monthly general meetings. Standing working groups are detailed below and will have dedicated time on monthly agendas. If the lead of the working group is absent it may nominate an alternate to present. Task forces may be formed and disbanded by agreement of the chair(s) and NUGEX members.

Current task forces and working groups are described here.