The NEH's Office of Digital Humanities (ODH) recently launched a Humanities High Performance Computing (HHPC) initiative. As part of this initiative we're offering several grant programs and other opportunities to provide time on the U.S. Department of Energy’s high performance computers, as well as grant money and training. NEH established this program to encourage humanities scholars to think about how high performance computers might help them in their research, and to take advantage of existing high performance computer resources.

However, we recognize that simply providing access to the resources isn't enough to spark new ideas. We don't expect that there are legions of humanists out there with software and datasets sitting idle and ready to use on high performance machines. Still, we want to stimulate and encourage promising ideas you may have for HHPC experiments and test projects.

As we indicate in the HHPC program guidelines (and as we do in all our other ODH grant programs), we specifically encourage potential applicants to contact us with their ideas for new projects.  The ODH staff frequently works with potential applicants to provide feedback on proposals and guidance on the most appropriate grant program for their project. 

If you are considering a humanities project that may require fast computation, I encourage you to send us an e-mail (odh@neh.gov) with your ideas or draft proposals. We don't expect that you've necessarily worked out all the details -- you may simply be at a stage where basic research and experimentation is in order. We will work with you to help find the most suitable NEH grant opportunity and make suggestions on how to turn your draft into a full-blown proposal.  We will also consult with our partners at the Department of Energy to seek their advice, as appropriate. Our hope is that this call will help turn some of your ideas into excellent projects that will be valuable to the nascent HHPC community. We look forward to hearing from you.  For additional information, please do consult our HHPC Resource Page.  The application deadline for NEH/DOE Humanities High Performance Computing grants is July 15.