Author: Doug Dawson

We’d like to announce the pilot of our new RCD LLM Service. This service provides no-cost API access to leading open-weight models to all Clemson users.

The service provides access through common API formats including:

• OpenAI Compatible Chat Completions
• OpenAI Compatible Embedding
• OpenAI Compatible Responses
• Anthropic Compatible Messages

These APIs are widely supported by many AI tools and libraries, including coding assistants such as OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, and OpenCode; chat and RAG interfaces such as OpenWebUI and AnythingLLM; and software libraries such as Pydantic AI, LangChain, and OpenAI SDKs.

There are no set rate limits or token quotas. Instead the API has a fair-share scheduling mechanism built in so that if the underlying hardware becomes saturated, requests are held before sending to the underlying engine with priority based on recent usage.

Check out our documentation for details. To get started, you will need to request an allocation in a process similar to Palmetto, then you can register API keys.

As documented in our Acceptable Use Guidelines, any use of the service must remain consistent with Clemson University IT policies, Clemson AI guidance, and any sponsor, contract, or regulatory requirements that apply to your work. Non-academic personal and commercial use is prohibited.

The Research Computing and Data (RCD) group in Clemson Computing and Information Technology (CCIT) is seeking interns to support Clemson’s goal to increase research capacity. Interns in this position will learn the basics of high-performance computing and will support researchers making use of advanced cyber infrastructure including the Palmetto 2 Cluster and Indigo Data Lake.

As an RCD intern, you will be responsible for supporting the RCD staff in several areas, including:

• User Support. You will provide the first line of support for researchers, triaging requests, answering the ones you are able to, and assigning others to the subject matter expert within the RCD staff.
• Documentation Updates. You will help review and test RCD user facing documentation and make updates as needed.
• Hardware Operations. When large cluster hardware changes are needed (installation or removal), you will assist the infrastructure team in the data center. This may involve lifting heavy equipment.

As interns gain more knowledge, in addition to the main support role, they will have the opportunity to work on advanced projects. The RCD staff will help match you with project topics areas such as AI/ML, software engineering, HPC software management, bioinformatics, or computational material science.

Ideal candidates should:

• have experience with Linux operating systems
• enjoy technical challenges
• have a strong work ethic
• be punctilious
• have an aptitude to learn

For more details on the position, please review our Position Description.

To apply, please use the CCIT Student Employment Application and select “RCD Intern” as the preferred position.

The RCDE team is excited to announce our Spring 2025 workshop series, available free to any Clemson University student, faculty, or staff member!

Our series will cover various high-performance computing, machine learning, and software development topics. Here’s a summary of what we’ll cover:

• Introduction to Linux
• Introduction to Research Computing on Palmetto
• Introduction to Nextflow
• Advanced Nextflow
• Running LLMs on Palmetto
• Fine-tuning LLMs on Palmetto
• Advanced Deep Learning in Pytorch
• Research Computing with Kubernetes

You can learn more about the details of each workshop, the schedule, and registration links on the upcoming live training sessions page of our documentation site. 

Use our online registration system to secure your spot!

We look forward to the workshops and hope to see you there. Please submit a support ticket if you have any questions or suggestions.