Steering Committee on The Carpentries

Announcing the 2018 Executive Council for the Carpentries

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Voting in the election for community governance of the Carpentries (Executive Council, formerly named Steering Committee or Board of Directors) closed last week. Out of the 501 members eligible for voting, 147 ballots were cast (29% turnout).

We are pleased to announce the four newly elected members of the Executive Council:

Raniere and Lex received the highest number of votes and will serve two year terms; Amy and Elizabeth will serve one year terms.

Jessica Upani: Nomination for 2018 Steering Committee

Fri, 01 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

2018 Election : Jessica Upani

Who am I?

My name is Jessica Upani. I am Namibian and I am a high school teacher. I am also a 4th year Mathematics and Computer Science undergraduate student at the University of Namibia. I am an executive of the Python Namibia society. We run Python workshops, meetups and Conferences all over the country.

Previous involvement.

My involvement with the carpentries started in April 2016 when I was one the instructors that were trained by Aleksandra Pawlik in Potchefstroom, South Africa. I then continued with my training and became a certified Software Carpentry instructor on 7th July 2016. My final checkout was done by Greg Wilson. He gave me my qualification. I did not do this alone. I was mentored by David Perez-Suarez. Since then, I hosted and taught two workshops locally. We paired our first workshop with Bertie Seyffert from South Africa. I also had a chance to meet the new instructors that were trained in Cape Town, May 2017.

Our Steering Committee Candidates

Sun, 26 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Eight people have nominated to serve on the 2018 Steering Committee of the new, merged Carpentries.

The nominees so far are:

Samantha Ahern (UK)
Martin Callaghan (UK)
Auriel Fournier (US)
Amy Hodge (US)
Lex Nederbragt (Norway)
Raniere Silva (Brazil, but currently in the UK)
Juan Steyn (South Africa)
Jessica Upani (Namibia)
Elizabeth Wickes (US)

There is still time to put your name forward. Nominations will close on 1 December.

Amy Hodge: Nomination for 2018 Steering Committee

Mon, 20 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

2018 Election : Amy Hodge

A Little About Me

Hi all! My name is Amy Hodge, and I work for Stanford University Libraries. I have a PhD from Yale in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and spent about 10 years working at science database companies, where I discovered the elegance of SQL and the perfect role for me in enabling people to do better science. Since my undergraduate days I’ve been involved in teaching, mentoring, and software training, and my involvement with the Carpentries is a natural extension of these activities and my desire to enable people to do better science.

Samantha Ahern: Steering Committee Nomination

Mon, 20 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Samantha Ahern: Steering Committee Nomination

How am I involved with the Carpentries?

I have been involved with Software Carpentry for four years. I participated in a Bootcamp back in 2013 and since then have been a helper for a number of Bootcamps and have taught in three in total - two in the last year.

I am a very newly qualified Instructor, literally completing the sign-off tasks in the last few weeks, but have been involved in Education and this type of learning in particular for a long time.

Martin Callaghan: Nomination for 2018 Steering Committee

Thu, 16 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

2018 Election: Martin Callaghan

So, who are you?

I’m Martin Callaghan and I’m a Research Computing Consultant (part research software engineer, part trainer, part consultant and part outreach) at the University of Leeds in the UK, where I provide programming and software development consultancy across a diverse research community, including the Arts and Social Sciences, for Cloud and High Performance Computing.

It’s an exciting job where I get to work with researchers to understand their research questions and support them in developing and selecting computational platforms, tools and applications to help them answer those questions.

Raniere Silva: Nomination for 2018 Steering Committee

Thu, 16 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Who am I?

My name is Raniere Silva. I’m a Brazilian who currently lives in Manchester, UK, where I work for the Software Sustainability Institute as a Community Officer and help run the Institute’s Fellowship Programme. The programme supports, among other activities, Carpentry workshops and this incredible community in the UK and beyond.

Previous Involvement

I discovered Software Carpentry in 2013 after reading this blog post, being redirected to it by this announcement. Months later, I joined the 6th round of instructor training along side Leszek Tarkowski, Michael Crusoe, Christina Koch, Mark Laufersweiler, Jonah Duckles and many other fabulous instructors that I would only meet in person years later.

Lex Nederbragt: Nomination for 2018 Steering Committee

Tue, 14 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

2018 Election: Nomination by Lex Nederbragt

Who am I?

My name is Lex Nederbragt. I am a bioinformatician (senior engineer) at the Institute of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Norway. I also have a 20% associate professor position at the Institute of Informatics at the University of Oslo. My research and teaching involve genomics, bioinformatics and programming for biologists.

Previous involvement with The Carpentries

I hosted the first Software Carpentry workshop at our university in 2012 (we were very fortunate to have Greg Wilson, one of the founders of Software Carpentry, teach the workshop himself!). I became a Software Carpentry instructor in 2013 and a Data Carpentry instructor in 2016. I have taught at numerous Software and Data Carpentry workshops, both in Oslo, in Norway and abroad. In 2016, I also became an Instructor Trainer and I have co-taught a couple of Instructor Training workshops since then. Together with Karen Lagesen, I started a ‘Carpentry’ initiative at the University of Oslo which now has grown to a dozen local instructors, and another dozen helpers, and many workshops, some full two-day, standard Software or Data Carpentry workshops, but increasingly half to one-day workshops teaching just one lesson of the Carpentries material.
I have contributed to the unix, git, python and make lesson, and this year, I became one of the maintainers of the Data Carpentry ‘Wrangling Genomics Data’ lesson.
Finally, I am very proud of having been one of the authors of the ‘Good Enough Practices in Scientific Computing’ paper that was published earlier this year.

Nominating for 2018 Steering Committee

Mon, 13 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Three nominations have come in so far for the new 2018 Steering Committee of the merged Carpentries.

The nominations received are from Juan Steyn (South Africa), Auriel Fournier (US) and Elizabeth Wickes (US).

There is still time to put yours in - nominations close on 1 December. Here is all the information you need to nominate.

There will be a Meet the Candidates opportunity on our upcoming community calls on 16/17 November (date and time will vary, depending on time zones).

Elizabeth Wickes: Nomination for 2018 Steering Committee

Sun, 12 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

2018 Election: Nomination by Elizabeth Wickes

Who am I?

I’m Elizabeth Wickes and I work as a Lecturer with the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I began this position in mid-2017, and previously worked as a Data Curation Specialist for the University Library at UIUC for 2 years. I have my MSLIS, and worked for 5 years at Wolfram|Alpha before beginning my master’s program.

Auriel Fournier: Nomination for 2018 Steering Committee

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

2018 Election: Auriel Fournier

I am excited for the opportunity to stand for election for the 2018 Steering Committee of The Carpentries.

About Me

I am currently a postdoctoral research associate at Mississippi State University, based out of the Coastal Research and Extension Office in Biloxi, MS on the Gulf Coast. I am part of the leadership of a large (>45 partner, 200 person) cooperative network which is using structured decision making to inform decision making about bird conservation in response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. I received my PhD in Biology from the University of Arkansas in May 2017 and before that received a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Management from Michigan Technological University. I’m an avid gardener, crochet/knitter and lover of dogs.

Juan Steyn: Nomination for 2018 Steering Committee

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

2018 Election: Juan Steyn

Hi! I’m Juan Steyn, currently employed at the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources as project manager. I’m an enabler at heart and I want to contribute and give back to the African and international Carpentry community. I especially want to help ensure that the core values of the Carpentries get transferred and integrated into how our workshops are conducted within new loci. Africa has A LOT of potential and I would like to play my part to enable and catalyze this potential into action.

Call for Nominations to Joint Board

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

EDITED 2017-11-07: Board of Directors is a legal term and can’t be used for a sponsored project. Changed to “Steering Committee”

Call for Joint Carpentries Leadership: Stand for election to the joint Steering Committee of the merged Carpentries organization

As most of you know, Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry are merging into a new organization, provisionally called “The Carpentries”. This new organization will officially begin on January 1, 2018, with a hugely talented staff and dedicated community already in place.

RFCs and lessons learned

Tue, 17 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Thanks to everyone for sharing questions and comments on our recent Request for Comments regarding the upcoming merger of Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry. Now that the official response period for the RFCs has ended, the GitHub issues specific to the RFCs will be closed. We received comments from individuals across our community representing multiple stakeholders, including the Software Carpentry Advisory Council (representing member organizations) and the community at large (through the GitHub repository, private comments via the Google Form, and personal communication). Those of us working on the merger have been actively considering and discussing this valuable feedback and have been identifying areas requiring additional attention and clarification. We will be publishing blog posts over the next few weeks summarizing our thoughts and identifying future actions for each of the RFCs. You are welcome to continue communicating your questions or concerns to us through new issues in the GitHub repo. Below we describe the context behind a few themes and issues emerging from the RFC discussions which may not be immediately apparent but have factored heavily into our approach.

Request for Comment: Share your thoughts on the future of The Carpentries

Tue, 19 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We are now requesting comments on plans related to The Carpentries!

A blog post last week provided history and some context behind the planning still in progress for the eventual merger of Data Carpentry and Software Carpentry into a unified organization, tentatively called The Carpentries. An outline of the planned structure, roles, and responsibilities of The Carpentries is now available, and we request your feedback through a series of Requests for Comment and related GitHub issues by October 6, 2017.

Joint future for Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry

Sat, 02 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry are sister organizations focused on teaching computational best practices to scientists. They are currently independent organizations with their own fiscal sponsorship, Steering Committees, governance model, and bank accounts. However, as is perhaps no surprise the organizations’ operations have evolved to share memberships, infrastructure for workshop coordination, an instructor training program, and even some staff members. This ‘separate but collaborative’ organizational structure has allowed us to build a shared community of instructors with more than 1000 certified instructors and 47 current Member Organizations around the world.

Motions approved for Data Carpentry & Software Carpentry Merger

Mon, 07 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

I am happy to announce that the Steering Committees of both Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry have approved 4 motions regarding the structure and leadership of the mergered Carpentries organization. The approved motions are:

Motion 1

The Board of Directors for the combined organization will be composed of 9 members, each serving a two year term without limits on the number of terms. Five members will be appointed through a process of nomination to the board followed by voting by board members. The other four members will be elected by the membership of the organization.

Steering Committee composition and operations

Sun, 25 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

You've hopefully seen [Belinda Weaver's post](https://software-carpentry.org/blog/2017/06/weaver_cdl.html) announcing her hire as Community Development Lead for Software and Data Carpentry, which also mentioned her stepping down from the Steering Committee. This means we (the Steering Committee) will continue our term of service with only six members. We are confident in our ability to continue our operations as normal despite this change. Thanks to Belinda for her service on the committee over the last year and a half, and we're looking forward to interacting with her in this new capacity.

New monthly updates from the secretary

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

After 6 months, I feel that I’m settling into my role as Software Carpentry Steering Committee Secretary. In an effort to improve communication and transparency between the Steering Committee and everyone else, I am commiting to writing or co-writing a montly blog post to keep you abreast on news from each meetings.

Check out these new blog post summaries of the in-person Software Carpentry Steering Committee Meeting and of the in-person SWC/DC merger group meeting.

Timeline for the Data Carpentry & Software Carpentry Reorganization

Sat, 17 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

On Jun 8 & 9, we met in-person to continue discussing how to proceed with the merger of the Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry organizations to best achieve our strategic goals and serve our communities. We are happy to report that is was a very productive meeting.

We spent most of the meeting discussing the structure of the future organizational leadership. We have drafted a number of motions that we will present to our respective steering committees for approval at our next meetings. Among the motions, we will propose that the combined Carpentries governing structure be made up of both appointed and elected members. Additionally, we propose that it is in the best interest of the organization to seed the future steering committee with bylaws, which will be enumerated, written, and approved in the coming months.

Summary of the 2017 Software Carpentry Steering Committee Retreat

Wed, 31 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Software Carpentry Steering Committee met in person on June 7-8 in Davis, California. The committee members have unique journeys that brought them through the community to having a seat on the steering committee. Importantly, we have a unified vision for the future of the Software Carpentry Foundation and the roles of the steering committee. Below is a brief summary of the motions passes and detailed description of the five key areas over which the Steering Committee will continue to provide oversight.

Summary of May Community Call: Restructuring the Carpentries

Fri, 19 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Thanks to those of you who attended the May Community Calls, the topic of which was restructuring of Software Carpentry (SWC) and Data Carpentry (DC) into a single unified (umbrella) organization, with SWC and DC continuing as lesson organizations within the umbrella.

As the Chair of the SWC Steering Committee, I am one of the representatives from each organization tasked with developing a plan of action for how the restructuring will proceed over the next ca. six months. I am gratified by how much our community cares about its future, and what we (as community) believe is important to target as we proceed in planning. The following items highlight major discussion points synthesized from both community calls, and a complete set of notes is available on the etherpad.

May Community Call: Restructuring the Carpentries

Sun, 14 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Software Carpentry Steering Committee (SWC SC) announced back in February that we were initiating discussion with Data Carpentry about potentially merging into a single organization. Members from the SWC SC and the Data Carpentry Board have been meeting regularly since then, identifying the advantages and logistical challenges associated with a restructured organization. More recently, we passed a motion approving the following structure: “A Carpentry umbrella organization and a set of Lesson Carpentries. The umbrella organization is primarily responsible for finances, administration, and facilitating policy. Each Lesson Carpentry is primarily responsible for lesson development and maintenance.”

Announcing the 2017 Steering Committee

Mon, 30 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

I’m pleased to announce our new steering committee for 2017.

The new steering committee is comprised of

![]({{ site.url }}/files/people/hertweck_kate.jpg) Kate Hertweck
![]({{ site.url }}/files/people/harris_rayna.jpg) Rayna Harris
![]({{ site.url }}/files/people/koch_christina.jpg) Christina Koch
![]({{ site.url }}/files/people/kuzak_mateusz.jpg) Mateusz Kuzak
![]({{ site.url }}/files/people/lagesen_k.jpg) Karin Lagesen
![]({{ site.url }}/files/people/mcclatchy_sue.jpg) Sue McClatchy
![]({{ site.url }}/files/people/weaver_belinda.jpg) Belinda Weaver

Turnout and Voting Tallies

We had 31.6% turnout representing 176 of the 557 eligible voters casting a ballot in this election. Official election results are available from electionbuddy.

Software Carpentry Steering Committee Candidates 2017

Sun, 15 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

2017 Steering Committee elections and January Community Call

We are pleased the announce the 2017 Steering Committee elections, which will occur from January 23-27. All members will receive a ballot via email to cast their vote via electionbuddy. Be sure to look at the membership list and let us know if you feel you’ve been left off by mistake; membership details are here.

Community Call

As a preface to the election, we are using our January Community Call to allow the candidates time to introduce themselves. We have seven outstanding candidates to fill the seven Steering Committee seats. Our governance rules require us to hold the election, albeit uncontested, but we also feel this is a vital way for the community to exhibit commitment to the organizational leadership. Please sign up to attend one of two meetings on January 20 to hear about our candidates’ plans for 2017. What would you like to see the Steering Committee accomplish? What are you excited for Software Carpentry to tackle this year?

2017 Election: Belinda Weaver

Fri, 23 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Hello everyone. I am standing again as a candidate for the Steering Committee, having served on it this year for the first time.

About me

I have been involved with Software Carpentry for about three years. I organised the first workshop in Brisbane in 2014. I certified as an instructor myself in 2015 and taught at two workshops that year. In 2016, I taught at eight workshops, all of which I either organised or helped to organise. During 2016, I and other Queensland instructors have taken Software Carpentry to five cities in Queensland - Brisbane, Townsville, Toowoomba, Gold Coast and Rockhampton - a huge improvement on the number of workshops run in 2015 (three).

2017 Election: Karin Lagesen

Fri, 23 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

2017 Election: Karin Lagesen

I have been a member of the Software Carpentry Steering Committee for two years, first as secretary and then as vice chair. My involvement with the SCF started in 2012, when I attended a workshop in Oslo, Norway. I signed on as an instructor in 2013 and became an instructor trainer this year. I have around 10 workshops, including instructor training, under my belt. As a member of the SC, I have mainly focused on Software Carpentry operations and on the development of instructor training and instructor trainers. In addition to serving on the Steering Committee, I am also a member of the mentoring committee. Although I have not been able to be as active in the mentoring committee this year, I have previously worked on developing programs focusing on integrating new instructors and on helping new instructors teach their first workshop.

2017 Election: Mateusz Kuzak

Fri, 23 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Hi, I’m standing up for election to the Software Carpentry Steering Committee 2017.

Me & Carpentries

My background is life science. I currently work at the Netherlands eScience Center in Amsterdam. Apart from being a developer on various research software projects, I’m involved in Center’s training activities and software development best practices.

I got sucked into in Software Carpentry world through Elixir Data Carpentry Pilot organised by Aleksandra Pawlik. During hackathon in Helsinki, together with Francois Michonneau and few other people we kickstarted ggplot2 part in R-ecology-lesson. From day one I learned a lot about the mechanics of SC, lesson development and logistics of the workshops.

2017 Election: Christina Koch

Thu, 22 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

To begin, I present:

Notable events in Christina’s Software Carpentry career:

2013-April: Graduate from grad school (Masters degree in mathematics).

2013-May: Attend Software Carpentry workshop (and see git and Python for the first time).

2014-January: Teach first Software Carpentry workshop.

2014-March: First time travelling abroad for Software Carpentry.

2014-May: Hear about a job through the Software Carpentry blog.

2014-October: Get the job (which is still my job).

2014-November: Become a lesson maintainer.

2015-December: First time leading an instructor training.

2016-January: Switch roles, from lesson maintainer to mentoring committee chair.

2016-June: Teach first Data Carpentry workshop.

To this list, I would like to add:

2017 Election: Kate Hertweck

Mon, 19 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

I am excited to stand for election for the 2017 Software Carpentry Steering Committee (SWC SC). I hope you’ll consider supporting me in this year’s election so I may continue to serve our community.

Previous experience with Software Carpentry:

Some folks might consider it insanity for a tenure-track assistant professor to volunteer so much energy to the Carpentries, but in reality, the time I’ve spent on the SWC SC has been essential to my development of an effective model of leadership. The following points highlight my contributions to our community:

2017 Election: Rayna Harris

Mon, 19 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

I am really excited to stand in election for the 2017 Software Carpentry (SWC) Steering Committee so that I can continue to serve this amazing community.

##Software Carpentry Involvement I was first exposed to Software Carpentry by April Wright, who suggested that I attend the Instructor Training Workshop at UC Davis in January 2015. In 2015 I co-taught workshops at UT Arlington and New Mexico State University, I co-organized the Austin-based Instructor/Helper Retreat, served on the Mentoring and Assessment Subcommittee.

Rayna Harris's Year in Summary 2016

Mon, 19 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

A year in review

I want to thank you for giving me the prilege to serve on the Software Carpentry Steering Committee. Here is a very brief recap of the year. Click this link to read my 2017 election post.

A year ago, I said I would focus my efforts on:

integrating data from the mentoring and debriefing sessions with the assessment surveys to understand the degree of workshop effectiveness

Don't forget to submit your post to stand for the 2017 Steering Committee

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

If you’ve considered running for the 2017 Software Carpentry Steering Committee, please submit your blog post announcing your intentions by December 23. More information about what to include in your post can be found in the original announcement.

2017 Election: Sue McClatchy

Mon, 05 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Hi,

I’m a bioinformatician at a research lab in rural Maine, U.S.A. My path here has been winding, varied, and fraught with good luck. I had the good fortune to find Software Carpentry some years ago, and in my travels have never found anything quite like it. I’m honored to be part of this community and now want to give back by contributing my experience and expertise.

Minutes of Steering Committee Meeting

Mon, 21 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Steering Committee informs that the minutes of their third quarter are now linked on [the Software Carpentry Foundation page]({{site.url}}/scf/) as well on the [README of the board GitHub repository]({{site.github_url}}/board). If you have critics and suggestions related to the minutes please send those by email to our Secretary, Raniere Silva, at [raniere@rgaics.com](mailto:raniere@rgaiacs.com).

In the forth and last quarter, the Steering Committee will focus to wrap and documenting some procedures to make the transition to the next Steering Committee smoother than this year, something that started with the Amending Steering Committee Election Procedures that you voted last October.

Call for Candidates for the 2017 Steering Committee

Mon, 24 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Software Carpentry will hold its annual election for the Steering Committee of The Software Carpentry Foundation on January 23-27, 2017. Please consider standing for this election to help shape the future direction for our commmunity. The roles and responsibilities of members of the Steering Committee are available here.

If you are a qualified instructor who has taught at least twice in the past two years, or have done non-teaching work for the community, you can both stand for election and vote. Please visit the list of current members to see who is eligible to stand and vote in our election. If you believe you qualify as a member but are not listed there, please contact us as soon as possible.

Vote Next Week to Amend Steering Committee Election Procedures

Mon, 10 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Last month, the Steering Committee announced a special election to amend the procedure for Steering Committee elections. The election itself will take place next week (Oct 17-21, 2016). All members will receive a ballot via email to cast their vote regarding this revision via electionbuddy. Please take a moment to check the current membership list and contact us by email to let us know of any omissions. As per our bylaws, our membership includes any certified instructor who has taught at least twice in the past two years (i.e., since October 2014) or has made other significant contributions to Software Carpentry in the opinion of the Steering Committee.

Election Announcement: Amending Steering Committee election procedures

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Steering Committee will be holding a special election on October 10-14 regarding the following amendment to Steering Committee elections:

“Following an election, the new Steering Committee will meet jointly with the previous Steering Committee for no less than 60 days. For meetings during the first 30 first days, the new SC will not have voting privileges. After 30 days, voting privileges are transferred to the new SC.”

Minutes of Steering Committee Meeting

Thu, 23 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Steering Committee informs that the minutes of their last meeting held last week are now available on [GitHub](https://github.com/swcarpentry/board/blob/master/minutes/minutes-2016-06-16.md).

As the Secretary, I’m sorry for the delay to release the minutes of the meetings due some experiments on the workflow to write the minutes. Now I’m happy with the workflow that we have in place that will assign one ID for all our motions making easy for us to refer them. I still want to make a few improvements on the workflow to make the minutes more machine redable.

Call for Software Carpentry Foundation Subcommittees and Task Forces

Sun, 24 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Purpose and Rationale

Software Carpentry is volunteer-powered organization that is rapidly growing. One of the greatest things about Software Carpentry is the huge diversity of people that have come together to collaborate, teach, and share ideas and resources. Your contributions to the community have made Software Carpentry a huge success!

To meet the needs of our growing community, the 2015 Steering Committee Launched the first Subcommittee program to allow groups of members to organize and develop resources and activities that support our members.

Welcome to the 2016 Steering Committee!

Sat, 20 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The results are in. Your 2016 steering committee, in alphabetical order by last name is:

Rayna Harris
Kate Hertweck
Karin Lagesen
Bill Mills
Raniere Silva
Belinda Weaver
Jason Williams

Thank you to all of the candidates for standing for election. We look forward to an exciting year of the new committee’s contribution and leadership.

For those interested, the raw results are available here.

Meet the 2016 Election Candidates

Thu, 21 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The candidates for the 2016 election are set. The election will take place during the week of February 15th-19th. Look for electionbuddy ballot information in your email if you’re a member.

Meet the candidates at the February 9th Community Lab Meeting Calls (14:00 & 23:00 UTC). Call coordinates will be posted to the etherpad when they’re finalized.

In alphabetical order by last name the candidates are:

2016 Election: Anelda van der Walt

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

## Who am I?

I have always been involved with, and am passionate about, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional projects. Over the last six years most of my work has focused on collaboratively providing support and training to researchers at various institutions across South Africa. Initially the support focussed specifically in areas of Next Generation Sequencing as I was employed by two national *omics platforms, but more recently I’ve participated in local eResearch initiatives. Through eResearch I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with researchers from a broad array of disciplines including life scientists, medical doctors, engineers, linguists, historians, and more. While I may not be the most computationally advanced person in this community, I have a knack for creating connections between those who need help and those who can help. I specifically love to work with people who are blissfully unaware of the power of technology, and upon exposure, blossoms into the greatest advocates and users with huge impact.

2016 Election: Giacomo Peru

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

2016 Election: Giacomo Peru

Ciao a tutti. Many thanks for taking a minute or two to read this post about my candidature for our Software Carpentry Steering Committee. As you’ll see, it was a long way from programming that I was reared, yet this opportunity for closer involvement with our work and its future brings together so much of what I have been doing all these years. Here’s why…

2016 Election: Jonathan Guyer

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Background

My training is in Materials Science and Engineering and I have done both computational and experimental research in fields like semiconductor crystal growth, electrochemical interfaces, and additive manufacturing. I co-authored the FiPy partial differential equation Python framework to support my simulations and to enable others to use these methods. I have spent my professional career at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology and been leader of the Mechanical Performance Group for the past two years.

2016 Election: Dhavide Aruliah

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

My name is Dhavide Aruliah. I am standing for election to the Steering Committee of Software Carpentry for 2016.

Who am I?

By training, I am an applied mathematician and computer scientist. From 2004 to 2009, I was a tenure-track assistant professor at UOIT (the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, ON, Canada). From 2009 to 2015, I was an associate professor with tenure at UOIT. In mid-2015, I left my academic career to join Continuum Analytics.

2016 Election: Rayna Harris

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Background

I am pursuing a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology at The University of Texas in Austin. My thesis research in Hans Hofmann’s lab focuses on understanding transcriptional responses to spatial learning with single neuron resolution.

Since 2012, I’ve been deeply involved with enhancing graduate student education through 1) the Neural Systems and Behavior (NS&B) course at the Marine Biological Laboratories and 2) the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (CCBB) at UT Austin. At NS&B, I teach molecular approaches to neuroscience and supervise student research projects. With the CCBB, I organize workshops and symposia to promote sharing of ideas and expertise across departmental boundaries. It’s been awesome to see theses, manuscripts, tweets, and blogs acknowledge these programs for advancing student’s professional development.

2016 Election: Kate Hertweck

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Hello fellow educators and coding enthusiasts! I’m terribly excited to offer myself as a candidate for the Software Carpentry Steering Committee. See below for answers to a few questions you might have about whether I’d be a good fit.

Who are you?

I’m an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Tyler in small but diverse Biology Department. My position is officially described as bioinformaticist, but I specialize in comparative genomics and collaborate on many different types of biological data analysis. I teach graduate and undergraduate classes in bioinformatics, genomics, and plant taxonomy.

2016 Election: Cam Macdonell

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Background & SWC Involvement ----------

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. My involvement with Software Carpentry began in 2009 as a helper. I helped at a handful of Edmonton bootcamps before completing instructor training in 2013. I have been an instructor for 9 bootcamps, 6 for Software Carpentry and 3 for Data Carpentry.

2016 Election: Belinda Weaver

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

I co-organise, run and teach at Software Carpentry workshops in Queensland, Australia, and frequently tweet about them and other Software Carpentry activities as @cloudaus

I first heard of Software Carpentry on Twitter in 2013 and thought it was a great initiative. Through the A/NZ mailing list, I made contact with Australian Software Carpentry trainers, and was able to organise the inaugural Brisbane bootcamp in July 2014, flying in instructors from Melbourne and Auckland.

Call for Candidates for the 2016 Steering Committee

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

From February 15-19, Software Carpentry will hold its annual election for the Steering Committee of The Software Carpentry Foundation. The inaugural Steering Committee has been an incredible team of dedicated community members working to position Software Carpentry so that it has a strong foundation and continued impact in scientific communities around the world. Please consider giving back to the community by standing for election!

Fee Waivers and Discounted Fees

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

A couple of weeks ago the Steering Committee met in person and one of the topics discussed was fee waivers and discounted fees for workshops and instructor training. Continue reading for our conclusions.

Help Software Carpentry's Strategic Planning

Sat, 18 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The SCF Steering Committee is undertaking a strategic planning process that will help us to identify the SCF's working priorities for short- and long-term success, based on input from you.

Your input is crucial—we are beginning the process by asking that you identify key Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) facing SCF over the next five years via this anonymous survey. We will review the survey results, summarize key issues, and develop a summary and plan that addresses the issues raised.

To help, please fill in the SWOT Survey. Note that the survey asks for 3 answers for each strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats but you may fill out more or less as you see fit. Please fill out the survey only once and by August 5, 2015.