Steering Committee Candidate Information
Published: Nov 12, 2021
Candidates for the 2021 US-RSE Steering Committee election are listed below. Five of these candidates will be elected for a two-year term starting January 2022.
If you have questions for the candidates, or questions about the election, please use the #election channel on Slack. You must be registered as a member by Friday, November 19th to be eligible to vote in this election.
Candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
- Nicole Brewer
- Jeffrey Carver
- Ian Cosden
- Charles Ferenbaugh
- Sandra Gesing
- Rinku Gupta
- Christina Maimone
- Chen Zhang
Nicole Brewer
Why do you want to be on the US-RSE Steering Committee?
US-RSE has given me the language and community to understand my job as a step in a long career. I’d like to use my experience as an early-career woman to amplify my and other’s unique perspectives on this career path. In particular, I’d like to make the career and the people in it more visible in order to wear in more pathways into this field.
How do you contribute to the US-RSE Association or RSE community more broadly?
I’m an active participant in the DEI discussion groups since it’s inception last year, where I have had a significant role in putting on many events, including the first book club, and several speaker series events. I’m a proud contributor to the diversity and inclusion statement. My next effort will be to cross-list several of my Women in HPC podcast episodes with RSE Stories. To V’s credit, RSE Stories was my gateway into understanding many of the major outstanding issues in this field, and what careers in research software engineering can look like, now and into the future. I look forward to bringing that kind of clarity and sense of belonging to the next person.
Jeffrey Carver
Why do you want to be on the US-RSE Steering Committee?
My experience on the US-RSE Steering Committee (SC) and my research interests motivate my interest to serve another term. As a founding member of the US-RSE SC, I have enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to the direction of US-RSE. My experience serving on steering committees for other organizations has allowed me to guide organizations in positive directions. One of the roles of an SC member is to help the organization make positive changes by identifying internal blind spots and external developments to help the organization respond to them, which I enjoy doing. Additionally, my key academic research interests focus on the development of research software and the people involved in the process. In my role as a Professor of Computer Science focused on Software Engineering, I conduct research to understand and advance the field of research software and research software engineering. I would like to use this research background to help shape the direction of US-RSE.
How do you contribute to the US-RSE Association or RSE community more broadly?
As a member of the US-RSE Steering Committee (SC) since its founding in 2019, I have taken on four active roles. First, I have led the US-RSE Education & Training Working group. This group has developed a list of existing RSE training resources, identified a list of the types of skills RSEs may possess, and created a list of RSE archetypes. Together these resources position this group to work towards outcomes like the design of certificates and/or templates for RSE degrees. Second, this year I have served as the SC Secretary. In this role, I helped with event logistics and have edited and posted event videos, including community calls, to the US-RSE YouTube channel. Third, I worked with two other SC members to obtain Sloan Foundation funding to support a US-RSE Community Building Workshop, scheduled for Spring 2022. Fourth, I have co-led the US-RSE involvement in the International RSE survey where I have helped ensure the survey questions gather information helpful to advance US-RSE. Beyond these specific service roles for US-RSE, in my work as a Professor of Computer Science, I conduct and publish research on the people and processes involved in developing research software. I anticipate my future research will continue to focus on important questions related to RSEs and research software. This expertise in software engineering and its application to research software provides an important perspective to the RSE community at large and specifically to US-RSE SC decisions.
Ian Cosden
Why do you want to be on the US-RSE Steering Committee?
When I was in grad school (Mech Eng) I discovered I liked programming more than science. I had envisioned working in an RSE-like role, though at the time, I had no idea it could be an actual thing. I saw the need from the research side and the potential impact, but I felt I had to create it myself. Now, years later, I want to hold the door open for others. I want to make RSEs a first-class member of the research community. RSEs should have stable funding, long-term career opportunities, and be treated as valued collaborators. RSEs are crucial to the long-term sustainability and performance of research software and funders, institutions, and organizations should support them accordingly.
I believe wholeheartedly in US-RSE’s mission and that our collective power has the ability to positively influence the RSE profession in countless ways. I’m fully committed to US-RSE and, if elected, will focus on driving its growth in membership, diversity, influence, and effectiveness.
How do you contribute to the US-RSE Association or RSE community more broadly?
I was one of the founding members of US-RSE. In the early days of US-RSE, I led the community drafting of the US-RSE mission statement. I’ve been serving as the inaugural chair of the steering committee. I’ve spearheaded, organized, and participated in multiple US-RSE panels and workshops. I’ve written blog posts and co-authored articles, papers, and presentations promoting RSEs. I’m the lead PI (along with Co-PIs Jeff Carver and Dan Katz) on a Sloan Foundation grant to host a US-RSE workshop at Princeton (rescheduled to April ‘22). I’ve been active in the initial development and redesign of the US-RSE website. I do all this in an effort to build an RSE community in the US that can become self-sustaining. I’m committed to the success of US-RSE and I believe we are stronger and better together. A cohesive and connected community can drive progress and influence change in ways individuals can’t. Advocacy for one is advocacy for all.
Last year I co-founded the International Council of RSE Associations, an organization of leaders from the various national RSE associations to foster collaboration and communication amongst our communities. In my day job as Director of Research Software Engineering for Computational & Data Science at Princeton University, I’ve built a centralized RSE group from a single RSE in 2016 to a team of 12 full-time RSEs. I actively use this as a platform to advertise RSEs’ impact on research and advocate for RSEs both locally and in the broader community.
Charles Ferenbaugh
Why do you want to be on the US-RSE Steering Committee?
I have been doing RSE-type work for over 25 years, first in industry and then at Los Alamos National Lab. Like many RSEs, I’ve often struggled to build a career and get recognition for software contributions to domain science code projects. When I learned of the RSE Association in the UK several years ago, I was excited and encouraged, and I wanted to see something similar start in the US to support RSEs and their work in this country. I’ve been fortunate to be able to help get US-RSE going, and I want to continue in that work.
How do you contribute to the US-RSE Association or RSE community more broadly?
I’ve been interested in software engineering and software quality for many years, and I’ve participated in a number of DOE workshops and activities on these topics over the past decade. I’ve supported improvements in the software culture at LANL over two decades, particularly working with code projects wanting to modernize their code bases to use exascale computing effectively. I’ve tried to build bridges between domain scientists and computer scientists/RSEs at LANL and in the wider community, since I’ve had a foot in both camps myself. I was an early member of US-RSE and a founding Steering Committee member. I’ve been involved in a number of US-RSE-sponsored events, and I organized the first US-RSE virtual workshop in April 2020. I’ve also been the lead organizer of the “Research Software Engineers in HPC” workshops at SC20 and SC21.
Sandra Gesing
Why do you want to be on the US-RSE Steering Committee?
I am passionate about improving career paths for RSEs and for incentivizing their work via means beyond the traditional academic rewarding system. While there is rising awareness of the importance of people in this line of work and of research software, we still have a long way to go to reach all crucial communities to achieve a cultural change in academia. I like the community-driven model we created with the current steering committee with working groups, monthly community calls, yearly workshops and the different types of outreach and communication channels. It is exciting to see the growth of the community in the last two years and to be part of a world-wide movement with the RSE Society in the UK and international associations all over the world. I would like to continue to actively advocate for RSEs and foster the growth of the community exploring additional venues and ways for outreach and take responsibility for tasks such as the newsletters and/or leading a working group.
How do you contribute to the US-RSE Association or RSE community more broadly?
I am the current co-chair of the founding steering committee of US-RSE and I am a senior scientist at the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) at the University of Illinois Chicago. One of the focus areas of my research is sustainability of research software. I was one of the Co-PIs of the conceptualization of the US Research Software Sustainability Institute and we work on further funding and the vision for this institute. I am also a Co-PI of the Science Gateways Community Institute and the project “Coordinating Curricula and User Preferences to Maximize the Participation of Women and Students of Color in Engineering”. When I came to the US eight years ago, I worked first as an RSE. After a few months I switched to a research faculty position collaborating with a team of RSEs at the University of Notre Dame supporting the growth of the team by including them in my projects. I just changed jobs in July to DPI and I’m the scientific outreach and DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) lead. One of my goals in this position is to build a team of RSEs at DPI, connect students with companies and start-ups in STEM and create a welcoming thriving working environment. Another goal is to build a local “Midwest” RSE hub in Chicago with regular meetings/small events. That could be coming together for a virtual US-RSE community call and extending the meeting afterwards with local discussions or other activities when everyone feels more comfortable again with meeting in person.
Rinku Gupta
Why do you want to be on the US-RSE Steering Committee?
As a research software engineer (RSE) for over two decades, working in a DOE lab environment as well as in industry and academia, I bring insight and solutions to challenges faced by RSEs in scientific computing environments. The RSE community is united based on the commonalities of the work we do, whether in academia, industry or national laboratories. However, career trajectories, professional connections, technical resources, and career development opportunities differ significantly in these working environments. If elected to the US-RSE steering committee, I would work with fellow committee members and the RSE community to advance the RSE cause, as well as to address issues in diversity, equality and inclusion, and to promote the importance of fully supporting the careers of RSEs.
How do you contribute to the US-RSE Association or RSE community more broadly?
My two-decade background as an RSE makes me passionate about advancing the RSE movement. Some of this passion is reflected in organizing RSE-focused events in the scientific community, representing Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) at domestic/international RSE events, and establishing collaborations with other RSE organizations such as the UK’s Software Sustainability Institute. I have also been a part of the RSE-HPC workshop program committee, working toward its promotion and success. As editor-in-chief of the Better Scientific Software website https://bssw.io, a central hub for sharing information about scientific software productivity and sustainability, I am enthusiastic about disseminating knowledge that helps in the development and enrichment of RSEs and their teams. Over the last year, I have been advancing the RSE movement in DOE laboratories. In early 2021, I started a grass-roots movement for empowerment of RSEs at ANL, with emphasis on promoting interactions among RSEs across various divisions at ANL and disseminating information about the RSE movement. The first ANL RSE meet-n-greet session in mid-2021 was attended by over 50 RSEs at ANL. My article “Understanding the Manifold Gap for RSE Recognition in National Laboratories” is being used to push forward lab discussions about the importance of fully supporting the careers of RSEs in DOE labs. I am eager to continue working closely with the US-RSE community for RSE empowerment.
Christina Maimone
Why do you want to be on the US-RSE Steering Committee?
I want to continue the work we’ve started to build US-RSE from a group on Slack into an organization that can sustain itself into the future. All of the impactful things we’d like US-RSE to do – recognition for RSEs, professionalization of RSE roles, creation of RSE groups at universities and research institutes, RSE training – rely on US-RSE being able to operate and continue to connect RSEs. To do this, we need to broaden engagement, develop a plan to support US-RSE financially, and then develop systems to support routine operations, such as managing membership and communications.
I work at the intersection of data science and research software engineering, supporting researchers with a broad range of challenges. I want to continue to represent data scientists who also identify as RSEs within US-RSE and on the Steering Committee.
How do you contribute to the US-RSE Association or RSE community more broadly?
In addition to being a founding member of the Steering Committee, I’ve organized and participated in multiple events aimed at increasing awareness of RSE roles and the US-RSE Association. In the past year, I helped organize and participated in a panel on RSE careers for PEARC21, which helps keep US-RSE connected to the broader research computing community. I also helped organize and participated in an early career panel with the Academic Data Science Alliance on RSE and data science careers in academia. I shared experiences trying to build RSE services at Northwestern via a workshop at SIAM-CSE21.
I co-chair a Campus Research Computing Consortium (CaRCC) working group on professionalization of research computing and data positions (including RSEs). This connection across organizations helps to coordinate activities and incorporate RSE concerns as part of broader conversations about research computing and data work.
Within US-RSE, I am part of the website committee. Behind the scenes, I work to keep our membership list up to date and handle logistics related to our community tools (Slack, email lists, etc.). I am also a reviewer for the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS).
Chen Zhang
Why do you want to be on the US-RSE Steering Committee?
As a research software engineer working on developing scientific software for the instrument scientists at SNS and HFIR, Oak Ridge National Lab, I believe my experience can help improve the field of research software engineering by prompting the concept and capability of RSE to the synchrotron and neutron facility.
How do you contribute to the US-RSE Association or RSE community more broadly?
Using my first-hand experience as well as my interaction with other RSE at the facility, I can help prompting the importance of adopting the standard research software engineering practice in modern research field. Furthermore, my interaction with the scientists can help identify the weak links in the current RSE practice, paving road for a better RSE community where both the research software engineers and the users (scientists) can benefits from quality software.