US-RSE Newsletter

October 2021 Newsletter

newsletter election sc21 agm logo website

Published: Oct 27, 2021

In this bi-monthly newsletter, we share recent, current, and planned activities of the US-RSE Association, and related news that we think is of interest to US-RSE members. Newsletters are also available on our website alongside the growing resources and information on the US-RSE Association. To receive our newsletter, join US-RSE here.

In this issue:

Election of Steering Committee Members and Second Annual General Meeting

In December 2020 we elected half of the US-RSE Steering committee, and this December, we will hold an election for the remaining five seats, so that in the future we will have a full set of two-year-term positions with half being contested each year.

Nominations, including self-nominations, for the US-RSE Steering Committee election are now open. Nominations are due November 5, 2021. Interested members are encouraged to nominate themselves. Alternatively, if you know of a member who you think would make a good candidate, you can submit a nomination for someone else. All US-RSE members in good standing as of October 22, 2021 (when nominations opened) are eligible to be nominated as candidates.

You can find details on the election process and timeline here! We encourage interested members to think about running for election, and to ask any questions you might have on the #election channel on Slack.

We will hold our second US-RSE Annual General Meeting (AGM) on December 3rd, 2021, 1-3 pm ET, for all our members. This will be an opportunity to hear from US-RSE leadership about our activities in 2021 and future plans for the Association. Candidates running for the US-RSE Steering Committee will be given an opportunity to introduce themselves. Questions or discussion topics can be submitted prior to the meeting. All members are invited and encouraged to attend, and the meeting will be recorded and made available shortly afterwards for those who can’t make it.

US-RSE New Logo and Website

We are excited to share the exciting news that US-RSE has a new suite of logos created by a professional designer! And, after months of hard work, the website working group has released a new US-RSE website. Take a look around, and if you discover any problems please open a GitHub Issue.

US-RSE Community Calls

The video for the August Community Call on “To PhD or not to PhD, that is the question!” is available at https://youtu.be/OiMYXNkOJcw, and the video for the September call on “RSE Team Member Interactions” is available at https://youtu.be/KU96ZMXsqGY.

The next community call will take place on November 11, 2021. You can vote on a topic on GitHub by giving the topic you would like to see in the next community call a thumbs up!

First International RSE Day

October 14 was the First International RSE Day, and US-RSE hosted a panel and a series of talks to celebrate the event. The panel and talks were recorded and the recordings will be available soon in the US-RSE YouTube channel. We thank Blake Joyce as the main organizer of this well-attended event!

RSE Stories Podcast

The Research Software Engineer Stories podcast celebrates its second birthday! There are three new episodes posted. Check them out below!

RSE Stories is looking for a new co-host and other volunteers to help with production. You don’t need to commit to anything: start with one episode and go from there. Interested? Reach out to Vanessa via Slack.

RSE-HPC-2021 workshop at SC21

Research Software Engineers in HPC: Creating Community, Building Careers, Addressing Challenges (RSE-HPC-2021) is a workshop that will be held in conjunction with SC21, in St. Louis, MO and virtually, on Monday, 15 November, 2021.

This workshop will bring together RSEs and allies involved in HPC, from all over the world, to grow the RSE community by establishing and strengthening professional networks of current RSEs and RSE leaders. We’ll discuss the current activities and plans of national RSE organizations, discuss the needs of RSEs and RSE groups, and write a report on ways RSE organizations can help address these.

The agenda is finalized. For more information, see the website or contact the organizers at sc-ws-rse-hpc@info.supercomputing.org.

International RSE Survey

Keep an eye out for the next International RSE Survey, coming soon. Last run in 2018, this survey is a multi-lingual worldwide effort led by Simon Hettrick to better understand Research Software Engineers. The results of the survey will be incredibly valuable and US-RSE plans to use the US-specific results to help direct our organizational activities and focus. Please take the time to participate and spread the word to your RSE colleagues. We will send mail with a link when it is available.

Recent Job Postings

These opportunities were recently posted to the RSE Careers page:

  1. Researcher: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 
  2. Software Developer: National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara 
  3. Research Software Programmer: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 
  4. Software Engineer: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 
  5. Software Engineer: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute 
  6. Research Software Engineer: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 
  7. Research Software Engineer: University of Washington, Seattle, WA 

Community News

DEI Media Club Discussion

In an effort to promote continual education and discussion, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group (DEI-WG) at the US-RSE Association presents its next instance of the DEI Media Club October 28 at noon EDT, 11 am CDT, 10 am MDT, and 9 am PDT.

We will be discussing Series 4, Episode 6: Building safe spaces and harnessing psychological safety of reWorked - The Diversity and Inclusion Podcast. Please share this event with your colleagues.

To prepare:

  1. Sign up for the DEI Media Club discussion
  2. Listen to Series 4, Episode 6: Building safe spaces and harnessing psychological safety - Apple Podcasts - RSS
  3. Come prepared to discuss!

New Resource

Research Software Engineering with Python by Damien Irving, Kate Hertweck, Luke Johnston, Joel Ostblom, Charlotte Wickham, and Greg Wilson

Writing and running software is now as much a part of science as telescopes and test tubes, but most researchers are never taught how to do either well. As a result, it takes them longer to accomplish simple tasks than it should, and it is harder for them to share their work with others than it needs to be. This book introduces the concepts, tools, and skills that researchers need to get more done in less time and with less pain. Based on the practical experiences of its authors, who collectively have spent several decades teaching software skills to scientists, it covers everything graduate-level researchers need to automate their workflows, collaborate with colleagues, ensure that their results are trustworthy, and publish what they have built so that others can build on it. The book assumes only a basic knowledge of Python as a starting point, and shows readers how it, the Unix shell, Git, Make, and related tools can give them more time to focus on the research they actually want to do.

Interesting Events

Some other events coming up may be of interest to RSEs:

Interesting Reads

Items you may have missed on the blog and Slack:

US-RSE Outreach

Do you have a meeting, event, or community that might be interested in hearing more about US-RSE? We are happy to come talk to your group! Send an email to contact@us-rse.org or reach out via @sc on slack.

US-RSE Financials

We are organizing US-RSE financials via the Open Collective project. You can see the budget, expenses, and contributions on this site.

Get Involved

There are lots of ways to get involved with the US-RSE community. Of course, you can join us on Slack or volunteer for an interview with the RSE Stories podcast. But we’re also looking for ideas and help in many other places. See our list of projects and let us know how you’d like to help. Help with things like the Website Committee, Social Media, and Community Engagement are all needed and welcome.

Share