Education
We are committed to fostering educational activities that promote open-source principles, collaborative development, and hands-on learning among students, faculty and the broader community. We approach this through a variety of means including presenting at conferences, guest lecturing at classes, projects that engage the open source community and running events like hackathons, coding competitions and design sprints.
Conference/Speaking
PyData Vermont 2024
https://pydata.org/vermont2024/
July 29 to July 30, 2024
PyData Vermont 2024 is a two day in-person event for the international community of data scientists, data engineers, and developers of data analysis tools to share ideas and learn from each other. PyData provides a forum for the international community of users and developers of data analysis tools to share ideas and learn from each other. The global PyData network promotes discussion of best practices, new approaches, and emerging technologies for data management, processing, analytics, and visualization. PyData communities approach data science using many languages, including (but not limited to) Python, Julia, and R. PyData is an educational program of NumFOCUS, a nonprofit charity promoting open practices in research, data, and scientific computing.
Location: Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, 60 Lake Street, Burlington, VT 05401
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney was the organizer along with NumFocus and facilitator for this event and ran an interactive session on the “Future of PyData Vermont”
Linux Foundation – What’s Next for Open Source?
United Nations OSPOS for Good 2024
July 9-10, 2024
UN Member States are also increasingly interested in ways to better leverage open source technologies for sustainable development. Promoting open source technologies is thus critical to ensuring that technologies’ full benefits are harnessed to achieve the United Nations’ mandates, goals and perspectives. This action symposium aims to address the issue of wasted potential by fostering collaboration among government, academia, and industry through a novel cooperative infrastructure. The goal is to work together towards achieving positive outcomes for society. Connecting OSPOs for Good will help build on the existing model of OSPOs and extend it further to address societal challenges and create positive social, environmental, and humanitarian impact.
Location: United Nations Building, New York City, NY
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney participated in the panel “Cooperating OSPOs – Across Society”
CURIOSS Members Summer Workshop 2024
https://verso.w3.uvm.edu/curioss-summer-workshop-2024/
June 27th 2024
CURIOSS is a Community for University and Research Institution OSPOs with the goal to facilitate the networking and collaboration between CURIOSS representatives from universities and research institutions worldwide. The Members Summer Workshop 2024 brought together multiple OSPOs in a member’s-only workshop to explore the challenges and opportunities facing open source in academia.
Location: Hula, 50 Lakeside Ave, Burlington, VT 05401
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney was the organizer and facilitator for this event
RISE Summit 2024
June 24-25, 2024
Hosted by UVM, the RISE Summit will highlight efforts to utilize research, innovation, sustainability, and entrepreneurship to solve problems through partnership and collaboration. By bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs, problem-solvers, and energized community members the goal is to address a myriad of complex challenges including how to build flood resilience, strengthen food systems, enhance educational opportunities for learners of all ages, amplify technology solutions for our energy and community systems, and converge on ideas for a sustainable future.
Location: Grand Maple Ballroom, Davis Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney was part of a panel called “Presentation: Placemaking Tools: Maps, Drones, and Data” along with Holly Morehouse, Vermont Community Foundation, Paige Brochu UVM Spatial Analysis Lab and facilitated by Chris Campany, Executive Director, Windham Regional Planning Commiss
2024 Rural Entrepreneurship Symposium
https://www.usasbelaunch.org/2024rural
June 19 – 21, 2024
The USASBE Rural Entrepreneurship Symposium promotes an integrated approach to better understanding entrepreneurship in rural areas and small towns, by annually convening 40 to 60 researchers, teachers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to generate more data-driven research, education, policy, and action for the 61% of the U.S. who live in small towns and rural spaces. In collaboration with national and regional supporters, this symposium will be hosted by university partners, and will have an organizing theme that is unique to the region. While these themes are specific to each region, they have also been selected for their global relevance. The host for the inaugural conference is the University of Vermont, with the theme of “High-Tech in Small Towns and Rural Spaces”.
Location: Ifshin Hall, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney presented “Empowering Innovation: The Journey from Academic Research to Open Source Impact”
Leadership Champlain – Energy and Environment Day
https://lccvermont.org/leadership/
April 9th 1:15pm – 2:15pm
Leadership Champlain is a professional development and community engagement program of the Lake Champlain Chamber with a mission to foster growth and leadership in professionals who will serve our community now and in the future. Leadership Champlain consists of retreats, full-day seminars, service projects, discussion groups and community tours from September to June. Participants meet monthly to explore critical community issues, examine themselves as leaders, and build relationships of trust and understanding. For the Energy and Environment day there were stations for the cohorts to rotate through to hear about how “mapping” plays into how the state manages conservation, energy, and population growth.
Location: Burlington Electric @ Spark Space 585 Pine St, Burlington, VT 05401
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney presented with Yoshi Bird on the Vermont Zoning Atlas
UVM Day of Data Techniques and Tools
https://uvm.libcal.com/calendar/chats-about-stats/data-day
January 9, 2024
UVM Libraries will host a Day of Data Techniques and Tools to assist you with your data analysis concepts, provide you with opportunities to engage in conversations about best practice in data methods and offer sessions on data storage at UVM, data sharing, data ethics and data visualization.
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney presented “Empowering Research: Open Data Platforms in Academia”
Earth Science Information Partnership (ESIP) Annual Meeting
https://2023julyesipmeeting.sched.com/
July 18-21, 2023 Burlington, VT
ESIP Meetings are collaborative, community-driven events that bring together the Earth science data community. This year we gather in Burlington, Vermont, and welcome virtual participation from anywhere.
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney participated in the panel “Expanding use of the open-source geospatial analytics ecosystem: perspectives from developers, universities, and data centers”
United Nations OSPOS for Good
https://openforumeurope.org/event/ospos-for-good-building-designing-cooperative-digital-infrastructure/
June 21, 2023 NYC, New York
UN Member States are also increasingly interested in ways to better leverage open source technologies for sustainable development. Promoting open source technologies is thus critical to ensuring that technologies’ full benefits are harnessed to achieve the United Nations’ mandates, goals and perspectives. This action symposium aims to address the issue of wasted potential by fostering collaboration among government, academia, and industry through a novel cooperative infrastructure. The goal is to work together towards achieving positive outcomes for society. Connecting OSPOs for Good will help build on the existing model of OSPOs and extend it further to address societal challenges and create positive social, environmental, and humanitarian impact.
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney participated in the panel “Cooperating OSPOs – Across Society”
Open Source Festival 2023 + Sustain
https://festival.oscafrica.org/
June 15-17, 2023 Lagos, Nigeria
VERSO was also a sponsor of this event
Open Source Community Africa is a community aimed at creating and supporting the open source movement within Africa. As a community, we intend to help integrate the act of open source contribution to African developers whilst strongly advocating the movement of free and open source software.
Open Source Festival is a high profile event that would attract student delegates, developers, designers and corporate organizations on a large scale with series of talks, workshops, and awareness of open-sourced developer tools.
Post-Doc John Meluso provided the Keynote Address “Building Thriving Communities: Learning Through Research With African Open Source Communities” with Tamutswa Mahari
Vermont Council on World Affairs
Ongoing
The Vermont Council on World Affairs, in cooperation with the public and private sectors, promotes an awareness and understanding of the world and its people through public forums, hosting international visitors and working with our educational institutions to develop programs for students, faculty, staff and community.
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney presents to each group as they are visiting the United States
- International Visitors Kyrgyzstan Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Jan 31, 2023
- International Visitors International Cybersecurity from Industry, Government and NGOs – Apr 5, 2023
- International Fellow – May 15, 2023
CNI Annual Meeting Spring 2023
https://www.cni.org/events/membership-meetings/past-meetings/spring-2023
April 3-4, 2023, Denver CO
Representatives from CNI member organizations gather twice annually to explore new technologies, content, and applications, to further collaboration, to analyze technology policy issues, and to catalyze the development and deployment of new projects. Each member organization may send two representatives.
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney participated in the panel “Early Lessons from Open Source Program Offices” (video, page)
UC Santa Cruz Open Source Symposium 2022
https://cross.ucsc.edu/2022-symposium/index.html
Sept 27-29, 2022
The UC Open Source Research Symposium (successor to the CROSS Research Symposia series) is happy to be able to mix in-person, hybrid and fully remote activities in an effort to provide a larger audience the opportunity to learn about the cutting edge open source research being done throughout the University of California. Participants can interact with UC faculty, graduate students, and affiliated researchers, and discuss future directions and discover areas of collaboration from campuses throughout the UC system. This year’s event is organized by the UC Santa Cruz Open Source Program Office (OSPO) and sponsored by CROSS.
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney participated in the panel “OSPOs in Academia”
RIT Open Symposium 2022
https://www.rit.edu/openworksummit/
Sept 7-9, 2022
This symposium is focused on looking at Open Work across communities to compare, contrast, and cross-pollinate best practices. It explores a wide range of national and international foundations across all disciplines that are also extending their policies on the need for supported work to be released under Open licenses.
VERSO Director Kendall Fortney participated in the panel “OSPOs in Academia: What do they do? What could they do?” (video)
Class Guest Lectures
VERSO can play a pivotal role in enriching students’ educational experience by offering insightful guest lectures. These lectures provide an invaluable opportunity for students to engage with industry experts and experienced open-source practitioners. The open source program office exposes students to real-world insights, emerging trends, and practical applications of open-source software development. These lectures not only inspire students but also foster a deeper understanding of the collaborative nature of open source and its relevance in contemporary technology landscapes.
Through these guest lectures, students gain firsthand knowledge about the challenges and opportunities associated with open-source projects. Speakers might share their experiences in project management, community engagement, and the technical intricacies of open-source development. This exposure not only enhances students’ technical skills but also cultivates a broader perspective on the collaborative ethos of open source.
If you are interested in having us come and speak to your class, contact us here
- UVM – CS 2300 Advanced Programming (Lisa Dion) – April 11, 2024
- UVM – CS/STAT/CSYS 287 Data Science 1 (Nick Cheney) – April 11, 2024
- UVM – CS 2300 Advanced Programming (Lisa Dion) – Oct 24, 2023
- UVM – BUS 2990 Creativity and Innovation (Erik Monsen) – Oct 26, 2023
- UVM – CDAE 6920 Graduate Seminar (Kate Mays) – Oct 2, 2023
- UVM – CDAE 1600 Design Innovation (Sarah Williamson) – Sep 19, 2023
- UVM – CS/STAT/CSYS 287 Data Science 1 (Nick Cheney) – April 20, 2023
- UVM – CS 120 QR: Advanced Programming (Lisa Dion) – March 20-21, 2023
- UVM – CDAE 195 Narrative Data Design (Sarah Williamson) Feb 22, 2023
- Champlain College – Strategic Community Management (Becky Holt) – Jan 30, 2023
- UVM – CDAE 395: Ecological Economics Applications (Joshua Farley) – Oct 25, 2022
- UVM – CS 120 QR: Advanced Programming (Lisa Dion) – Oct 25, 2022
- UVM – CDAE 060 Design Innovation I (Sarah Williamson) – Oct 3, 2022
- UVM – ME 265 / BSAD 293 Integrated Product Development (Erik Monsen) – Sep 15, 2022