About

 The Vermont Research Open Source Program Office (VERSO) at the University of Vermont (UVM) supports the open-source community to foster sustainable innovation through education, fellowships, research, and collaboration. VERSO aims to create an effortless open-source ecosystem on and off campus, growing a diverse community while building the necessary infrastructure to support open-source software development at UVM. By working closely with UVM’s research teams and community partners, VERSO seeks to document its community’s growth and contribute to open-source research questions.
 

VERSO will train and empower students and researchers to participate in open-source projects, focusing on topics like drone technology, agriculture, health, and interlibrary lending. Additionally, VERSO collaborates with UVM’s Office of Engagement and UVM Extension, working with governmental agencies, business, and nonprofit partners across Vermont to connect faculty and community interests. By addressing real-world needs with technological solutions, VERSO will facilitate cross-disciplinary, open-source initiatives that contribute to both the university’s research and the broader Vermont community.

Our Team

Kendall Fortney
Director

Kendall Fortney is the Program Director of the Vermont Research Open Source Program Office (VERSO) at the University of Vermont, where he works with faculty, staff, students, and the local community to advance the open-source ecosystem. Through the Open Research Community Accelerator (ORCA) program, Kendall leads efforts to foster innovation, research, and community engagement via student-led open-source projects.

Previously, Kendall served as the inaugural Fellow at the Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI), playing a pivotal role in the state's geospatial and data science initiatives. He has also been a key organizer of the Burlington Data Scientist Meetup and the Open Source Connector, and led both GeoDatSci 2018, a conference focused on geospatial technology and data science, and PyData Vermont 2024, which centered on research data and open-source data science.

Kendall’s deep commitment to open-source and community-driven technology continues to shape Vermont’s technology landscape.


Advisory Group

James Bagrow

VERSO Senior Personnel, Vermont Complex Systems Center, Mathematics and Statistics, UVM

Corine Farewell

VERSO Key Personnel, UVM Tech Transfer, UVM

Bryn Geffert

VERSO Senior Personnel Co-PI, Dean of Libraries, UVM

Laurent Hebert-Dufresne

VERSO Senior Personnel, Vermont Complex Systems Center, CS, UVM

Juniper Lovato

VERSO Principal Investigator, Research Assistant Professor of Computer Science, UVM

John Meluso

VERSO Postdoctoral Fellow for Systems, Organizations, & Inclusion, Vermont Complex Systems Center, UVM

Meredith Niles

VERSO Key Personnels, Vermont Complex Systems Center, Food Sciences, UVM

Jonathan St-Onge

VERSO PhD Fellow, Vermont Complex Systems Center, UVM

Our Supporters

VERSO is generously supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant number: G-2021-16956 and G-2024-22498, and through the  The Science of Online Corpora, Knowledge, and Stories (SOCKS) NSF EPSCoR grant.

Jobs

There are no open positions at this time

Volunteer

We would love to have you as a volunteer for the VERSO Program. There are a variety of opportunities, from helping run events, assisting projects, helping other as a mentor,  etc.