Requesting a Unity account
By requesting a Unity account, you agree to adhere to the Unity Use Policy.
Am I eligible?
Members of the UMass system (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell) as well as the University of Rhode Island are eligible to access Unity. Members of these five Universities are welcome to sign in and request a PI account (for Faculty and Staff), or to join a PI group (for Students).
If you are not a member of one of these five Universities, and your school is not already in the dropdown menu on the Unity Single Sign-On page, email hpc@umass.edu and we can suggest the next step. You may need to create an Affiliate account at the University of your PI. See below for details.
Accounts for faculty and senior research staff
We provision “PI Accounts” to faculty or select staff members who lead research groups. If you are a student or research staff (including postdocs) within a group led by a different PI, create a user account instead. To create a Unity account as a faculty or senior research staff member, sign in and request a PI account using the following instructions:
- Go to the Unity Single Sign-On page.
- Select your organization.
- Use your organization login information to sign in.
- Select “Request a PI account (I am a PI)”.
- Read and accept the EULA.
- Submit your request by clicking Request Account and wait for the Unity Staff to approve it.
Once the Unity Staff approves your account request, other members may request to join your PI Group and you will be able to approve them.
Accounts for students, research staff, or collaborators
To create an account as a staff member, student, or collaborator, you must work with a PI who will grant you access to their PI group. To request to join your PI’s group, use the following instructions:
- Go to the Unity Single Sign-on page.
- Select your organization.
- Use your organization login information to sign in.
- Select Join an existing PI group and search for your PI in the field provided. The PI group name is generally in the form
pi_piuser_school_edu. - Read and accept the EULA.
- Submit your request by clicking Request Account and wait for your PI to approve it.
After your PI approves your request, you will have access to Unity and your PI’s project code and data that is stored in Unity. You can view, join, or leave a PI group at any time by going back to the My PIs page. Users may work with more than one PI at a time, but the first approval must be done before adding others.
Affiliate accounts
If you are not already affiliated with a school in the Unity Single Sign-on system, you may need to fill out a form to get credentials at the school of your PI. Please refer to the following sections for instructions on how to request an affiliate account at the school of your PI.
UMass Amherst
The PI must request a NENS (Non-Employee, Non-Student) account through Spire. The NENS account request must be sponsored by the PI or by an eligible sponsor within the department.
The sponsor or delegate can request sponsor access for the PI by filling out the UMass Amherst NENS Sponsor/Delegate Access Request form. The sponsor must have authorization from an appropriate administrator within their department in order to sponsor a NENS account.
Once the PI has sponsor access or has identified a sponsor, they can follow the NENS request instructions to request an account for the non-employee/non-student.
UMass Boston
Follow UMass Boston’s Contingent Worker Instructions.
UMass Dartmouth
The PI must fill out the “UMassD Employee Sponsoring Contingent Worker Form”, which can be found in the “Onboarding” tab of the UMassD HR Portal
UMass Lowell
Fill out the “Sponsored Guest Form (pdf)” available at UMass Lowell’s General Payroll Forms section. Note that it requires signatures from both the PI and the Affiliate, and then is passed to HR.
University of Rhode Island
Fill out the “Affiliate Status Request - USP-18” form available at the University of Rhode Island’s Human Resources Forms web page. Note that it requires the signatures of both the PI and the Affiliate, and then is passed to HR. `