US-RSE September 2026 Newsletter

🧳 San Jose or Bust: We're Going to USRSE26! 🧳

newsletter September

Published: Sep 18, 2026 by Tinashe M. Tapera (Author & Editor), Sandra Gesing (Editor), Ian Cosden (Editor)

It’s that time again, y’all! The US-RSE newsletter is back with the latest news, updates, and happenings from the research software engineering community. In this edition, we’ll keep you up to date on all the latest developments, and we’ll help you prepare for the upcoming conference in San Jose, California!

Let’s jump right in…

🧳 San Jose or Bust: We’re Going to USRSE26! 🧳

The time has come! USRSE26 is finally upon us, and in just a few short weeks, the community will descend upon downtown San Jose, California for several days of learning, connection, growth, and fun! From poster sessions to keynotes, this year’s conference is gearing up to be yet another exciting and edu-taining week for research software nerds of all backgrounds and flavors.

Our keynote speaker this year is Fernando Pérez, Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, Faculty Scientist at LBNL, and — get this — co-founder of Project Jupyter!

Among his many accolades, Pérez is a mainstay in the open-source software community, having contributed to and led a dizzying array of projects, including IPython, Jupyter, and the Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS). Expect nothing less than an engaging and thought-provoking keynote from this research software luminary. Many thanks go to Pérez and to the USRSE26 sponsors, listed here, for making this year’s event possible.

If this is your first time attending USRSE26, here are some attendance tips:

  • Your go-to resource for all things USRSE26 is available at the conference website.
  • The conference will be held at the San Jose Marriott, located in downtown San Jose, California.
  • We will kick off on Monday, October 19, 2026 at 8:30 AM sharp with the opening keynote, and officially conclude on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at 5:00 PM with (my personally favorite part): Rapid Access Microtalks!
  • In between, a variety of sessions will be held simultaneously, including workshops, talks, and paper, poster, and notebook sessions. Check the conference program frequently to plan and pick what you’ll attend.
  • San Jose is a beautiful city with lots to see and do; the conference website has a handy travel guide to help you plan your trip, with a dedicated Things to Do section.
  • Be sure to review the Photo Policy and Code of Conduct before attending, and remember to be kind, respectful, and inclusive to all attendees.

Attending but not presenting?

Don’t feel left out – there are still ways you can get involved. Remember, the greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate action of its members (Coretta Scott King). At the time of writing, the planning committee is still looking for volunteers to help with USRSE26, including chairing sessions. If you are interested in helping out, please reach out to the conference organizers on Slack in the #usrse26 channel, or contact the Planning Committee directly on the website.

In addition, you can do your part to hype up the event by sharing your conference experience on social media. Use the hashtag #usrse26 to share your favorite moments, photos, and learnings from the conference with your colleagues and friends.

Lastly, if you are not attending, you can still support US-RSE’s mission to advance the state of research software engineering by purchasing this year’s US-RSE merch and taking it with you to rep the US-RSE community at your next conference destination!

The team is so excited to see you all in San Jose, California, in just a few short weeks!

🗞️ Community News 🗞️

New newsletter alert: User & Developer Experience

Our very own Hannah Coon and the UX working group will be sharing the latest and greatest developments in User and Developer Experience — UDX!

UDX in this case includes anything oriented toward making developers’ or users’ interactions with tech easier (be that via features, docs, policies, etc.). The ux-wg will also be highlighting relevant events, including talks/workshops/BoFs/posters at USRSE26. If you want your presentation included in the list, reach out to Hannah with the title and a very brief description of how it relates to UX or UDX work. And, if you’ve got other relevant events or content you’d like promoted (work of yours or someone else’s), send that along too!

Community Shoutouts

Check out this photo of our friends across the pond at RSECon 2026! You may recognize a familiar face or two…

Did you know that we have a community Code of Conduct? Anyone can view it in the #code_of_conduct Slack channel, under Files!

Community Spotlight

🌱 Our community is full of people doing fascinating research and software work, and we want to put a face to it. Starting this month, we’ll be featuring a group of members in a regular spotlight: what they work on, a tool they can’t live without, and how they found their way into RSE work.

We’d love to feature YOU. It takes about 5 minutes to fill out, and nothing gets posted without your okay: complete the community spotlight form

Email Pengyin Shan for any questions!

Community Calls

Check out our YouTube channel for recordings of past calls.

Our next meeting is scheduled for October 9, 2026 2—3 PM EST. We hope to see you there!

👀 Interesting Events and Opportunities 👀

Have an event or opportunity you want to promote? Reach out on Slack in the #newsletters channel!

📚 Featured Reads, Videos, and Podcasts 📚

📑 Recent Publications

  • Alper, J., Barany, M., Chavarri Villarello, A.et al.. Leiden Declaration on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics. Zenodo. Read it.

  • Smith, A.. Where does the rigor go? Research software and the future of trustworthy science.. Read it.

📇 Blog Posts & Other Reads

  • Brian Stone. NSF leadership in a new golden age of science | NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation. Check it out.

  • Computing Community Consortium. Beyond Code: Engineering Trustworthy Software Systems with AI at Scale - CCC. Check it out.

  • National Academies. Call for Experts for Standing Committee on Use of AI in Science: Integrity, Trust, and Innovation. Check it out.

🎧 Podcast Episodes, Videos, and More

  • Peter Schmidt. [EN] From Agents to Fellows - with Oscar Seip and Shoaib Sufi. Listen here.

Did you read something interesting this week? Want to share your own publications in the community? Reach out on Slack in the #newsletters channel!

🏃 Get Involved! 🏃

US-RSE Working Groups:

🧑‍💼 Recent Job Postings 🧑‍💼

Other Job Boards

You can learn more about job boards in the #jobs Slack channel!

This newsletter is a joint effort of members of the US-RSE Association.

© US-RSE • 2021–2026 • US-RSE is a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives

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