ospo | UCSC OSPO

UC Network Joins UN OSPOs For Good to Enhance Global Collaboration on Sustainability Goals

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 11:22:07 -0700

UC Network Joins UN OSPOs For Good to Enhance Global Collaboration on Sustainability Goals

From July 9-10, 2024, representatives from the six campuses working to build a network of Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) within the University of California (UC) system were part of the OSPOs For Good event at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This major event, which brought together open source experts and leaders from industry, governments and non-governmental organizations, highlighted how OSPOs working together across multiple sectors can help build networks of collaboration.

The event was kicked off with a panel that laid out how open source and working in open environments could help the UN and other international organizations in meeting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As noted by Astor Nummelin Carlberg, Executive Director, OpenForum Europe, the UN exists because some challenges are too complex for nations to tackle alone; similarly open source exists so that we can do more together and find ways to collaborate. Ambassador Philip Thigo, Special Envoy on Technology, Government of Kenya (co-sponsor of event) further noted in the opening session that open source shows the promise of enabling diverse communities, pointing at the vast contributions of people from the Global South to open source projects throughout the world. Full video for the event is available on the UN website:

July 9 Morning Session & Afternoon Session
July 10 Morning Session & Afternoon Session

The presence of members of the UC OSPO network was seen as a major indicator of how OSPOs working together could improve collaboration and coordination across different sectors. These discussions were particularly highlighted in the July 11 follow up meeting hosted by Apache Foundation and Linux Foundation in collaboration with organizers from OSPO++. This meeting entitled “What’s Next for Open Source: Workshops for Building Solutions with Open Innovation” helped participants from the UN sponsored conference look at ways that open source networks can enable global cooperation. That meeting included workshops and presentations from three UC OSPO network members and provided a forum for highlighting how the newly formed network could become a model for other sectors to follow. The UN event and the action focused workshops were also vital for the network and our partners to see how our activities could support the UN SDG’s and have a positive impact on the communities we call home.

UC OSPO Network Launched

Fri, 31 May 2024 11:22:07 -0700

In Spring 2024, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awarded a team of six UC campuses a $1.85million grant to further the on-going work of the UCSC Open Source Program Office (OSPO) at UC Santa Cruz aimed at promoting open source research, teaching, and public service in the UC system. UCSC is collaborating with partners at Berkeley, Davis, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego to institutionalize the OSPO approach in the UC system by creating coordinated activities that support local campus OSPOs and building a network that can leverage multi-campus efforts.

Full reporting on this Sloan Funding and the UC OSPO Network grant can be found in this UCSC news release)

The UCSC OSPO were excited to host the Kick-Off meeting for the network on May 31, 2024. In this meeting the network discussed governance issues and further understanding how to work together to build a UC-wide open source community. This meeting helped start the process for the UC OSPO Network to establish coordinated activities at each participating campus and provided a level of shared understanding.

🧪 Open Source Research Experience

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 12:23:07 -0700

🪺 Open Source Incubator Fellowship

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 11:10:07 -0700

Overview

The Open Source Incubator Fellowship, funded through through the UCSC Open Source Program Office (OSPO), supports the work of postdoctoral scholars aiming to create and grow productive open source contributor communities around innovative research prototypes in order to amplify the impact of their research. A successful application includes (1) a research prototype with significant open source software or hardware infrastructure typically created as part of the applicant’s Ph.D. project and (2) strong evidence that the proposed project would be met with great interest by at least one well-established open source community.

Incubator Fellows play the role of “open source ambassadors” at UC Santa Cruz by displaying exemplary open source project and community management practices and by sharing their experience via mentorship and classroom instructions so students learn how to productively engage in open source projects. Ideal incubator fellows are inclusive, comfortable reaching across different scientific disciplines, and run compelling projects that have broad interdisciplinary appeal.

Current Incubator Fellows

Thanks to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation the OSPO can currently fund up to two incubator fellows. The OSPO is in the process of raising more funding to expand the Incubator Fellowship within UC Santa Cruz and across other UC campuses. Please welcome the inaugural 2022 cohort:

Dr.-Ing. Oskar Elek

Dr.-Ing. Oskar Elek works on the project “Polyphorm + PolyPhy: An open source software platform for learning and visualizing connectivity patterns in complex datasets.” For more information, please see his website.

Dr. Emily Lovell

Dr. Emily Lovell works on “Strengthening Underserved Segments of the Open Source Pipeline”. For more information, please see her website.

Eligibility/Requirements

A mentor who is a member of UC Santa Cruz faculty
Completion of Ph.D. (Ph.D. must be in hand at time of appointment)
Ph.D. dissertation or equivalent level of research that includes an innovative open source prototype (software or hardware)
Experience with teaching or mentoring undergraduates preferred
Experience with open source community management preferred

Timeline (current academic year)

Begin reviewing applications on March 15, 2022; positions open until filled

Fellowship Terms

Number of positions: three (3)
Resident fellowship based at UC Santa Cruz
Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. Minimum annual salary rates are made based on the individual’s Experience Level, which is determined by the number of months of postdoctoral service at any institution. See current salary scale for Postdoctoral Titles at https://apo.ucsc.edu/compensation/salary-scales/index.html,
Anticipated start: as early as April 2022
Postdoctoral Scholar appointments are full-time; the initial appointment is for a minimum of one year, with the possibility of reappointment. Reappointment will be contingent upon positive performance review and availability of funding.

Application Structure

All applications should include:

Project Title
Background, overview & objectives
Expected time needed to meet objectives
Brief explanation of the relevant experience / previous work of project lead
Description of Diversity and Inclusion efforts/plans for project
Detail on the project roadmap and strategy for sustainability after fellowship ends
Risk assessment due to dependencies on any organization
Details related to project infrastructure and community engagement, including when applicable:
- Software project name and homepage URL
- Main code repository
- Documentation or other publication(s) describing project
- Name and affiliation of those with commit rights to the code repositories
- Names and affiliations of other maintainers/contributors
- Open source license
- Primary main programming language and other relevant language(s)
- List of scholarly papers citing or mentioning the software project
- Current number of unique users/contributors
- Number of software projects that depend on the software project
- Estimate of the potential number of users who could adopt this software project
- List of upstream, downstream, or related software projects that you are contributing to or receiving contributions from.
- Provide links to:
  - End-user documentation
  - Issue tracker
  - Community engagement or on-boarding forum
  - Contribution/coding guidelines

Other Application Material to be included in proposal:

CV of postdoctoral applicant

Register: 2022 UC Santa Cruz Open Source Symposium

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 11:22:07 -0700

The UC Open Source Research Symposium (successor to the CROSS Research Symposia series) is happy to be able to mix in-person, hybrid and fully remote activities in an effort to provide a larger audience the opportunity to learn about open source research at the University of California. Participants can interact with UC faculty, graduate students, and affiliated researchers, and discuss future directions and discover areas of collaboration from campuses throughout the UC system.

Returning after a two year hiatus, the Symposium will once again include the annual UC Santa Cruz Systems Research Lab’s Oktoberfest barbeque on the evening of the first day of the symposium.

Symposium Details →

🎓 Open Source Education

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 12:23:07 -0700

2022 UC Santa Cruz Open Source Symposium

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 11:22:07 -0700

Agenda and registration information is here.

Hybrid In-Person and Online Event

Registration to open in late August!

The UC Open Source Research Symposium (successor to the CROSS Research Symposia series) is happy to be able to mix in-person, hybrid and fully remote activities in an effort to provide a larger audience the opportunity to learn about the cutting edge open source research being done throughout the University of California. Participants can interact with UC faculty, graduate students, and affiliated researchers, and discuss future directions and discover areas of collaboration from campuses throughout the UC system.

AND returning after a two year hiatus, the Symposium will once again include the annual UC Santa Cruz Systems Research Lab’s Oktoberfest barbeque on the evening of the first day of the symposium.

This year’s event is organized by the UC Santa Cruz Open Source Program Office (OSPO) and sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and CROSS. It will include keynote speakers, expert panels, and technical workshops, as well as poster presentations highlighting the work of our Open Source Research Experience students.

Cost for non-UC affiliated participants: $299

Interested in Sponsoring this Event? Contact Stephanie Lieggi. Sponsors get complimentary registration, recognition and other benefits

Tentative Agenda

September 27, 2022

Venue: UC Santa Cruz Hay Barn
In-person participation limited to 50 people; Remote participation also available

Plenary sessions including keynote speakers, expert panels and poster sessions.
Day closes with the return of the 12th UCSC Systems / CROSS sponsored Oktoberfest BBQ!

September 28, 2022

Venue: UC Santa Cruz Baskin Engineering 2
In-person participation limited to 60 people; Remote participation also available

Technical workshops (two tracks) focusing on open source research and communities at UC Santa Cruz and other UC campuses.

September 29, 2022

Venue: Online Only

Technical workshops as well as presentations by contributors from the Open Source Research Experience Program.

OSPO UC Santa Cruz funded

Wed, 18 May 2022 11:22:07 -0700

(This is a slightly edited version of this UCSC news release).

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awarded Professor Carlos Maltzahn a $695,000 two-year grant aimed at establishing an open source program office (OSPO) that will serve the entire campus community. The new OSPO will be one of the first four in the United States to have such an office (John Hopkins, RIT, and Vermont are the others) and one of only two public universities.

Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) are an organizational innovation developed initially by companies in the tech sector as a way to manage the relationships with open source software ecosystems of strategic importance to their business. The UC Santa Cruz OSPO, together with the three other offices, are adapting this OSPO concept to build on the missions of research universities of research, teaching, and public service.

“We’re extremely excited about the establishment of university open source program offices and their potential to legitimize and improve the development of open source software across the research enterprise,” said Joshua Greenberg, director of the Sloan Foundation’s technology program. “We’re especially proud to support the establishment of an office at UC Santa Cruz. This work is being led by an accomplished team and represents an exciting development for the campus—as well as offering a blueprint for other UC schools.”

The UC Santa Cruz OSPO will transcend the scope of Baskin Engineering’s Center for Research for Open Source Software (CROSS) but not replace it. CROSS will continue its education, research, and incubator programs, with an increased focus on the topics of interest of its industry sponsors. CROSS was started by Maltzahn in 2015 to bridge the gap between student work and successful open source projects. Since its establishment, CROSS has raised $2.6 million in industry funding.

“By generously sponsoring CROSS, major corporations including Toshiba, Kioxia, Micron, SK Hynix, Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, and Fujitsu clearly signaled that industry-university research collaboration via open source strategies and techniques works,” observed Maltzahn. “Thanks to their engagement and Sloan Foundation’s funding, we now have an opportunity to significantly expand this collaboration in innovative ways.”

As noted by Interim Vice Chancellor for Research John MacMillan, “The UCSC Office of Research will work closely with the OSPO team at cross-divisional and corporate engagement and help track funding of open source projects within the university. We are pleased that the Sloan Foundation chose to fund UC Santa Cruz’s efforts in open source – making it the first UC campus with an OSPO. We think this pilot project will allow UC Santa Cruz to be a model for UC campuses and other public universities.”

As part of the Sloan Foundation award, the OSPO introduces a new incubator fellowship aimed at attracting postdoctoral scholars whose compelling and innovative open source research projects make them natural open source ambassadors to UC Santa Cruz. The OSPO will establish a teaching fellowship to encourage innovation in teaching students how to productively engage with open source projects.. The OSPO will also promote and track funding of open source research efforts to help estimate the value of open source to UC Santa Cruz and the UC system as a whole.

The OSPO team, led by Maltzahn and CROSS Assistant Director Stephanie Lieggi, runs the Open Source Research Experience (OSRE) program, an exchange of summer project ideas that matches student contributors and sponsors with mentors working on open source research efforts. As part of the OSPO, the OSRE will be able to expand and engage mentors across UC campuses and associated national labs.

Maltzahn summarized: “The Open Source Research Experience is the kind of OSPO program we want: inclusive and easy to engage with, highly rewarding, scalable across multiple UC campuses, well-aligned with the goals and desires of stakeholders, and increasing in value with the number of contributors.”

For more on the OSPO and how it works, check out the recent feature published by the Red Hat Research Quarterly and the OSPO UC Santa Cruz website, ospo.ucsc.edu.