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
2025
Leahy Grants – Cycle 1 Celebration & Pitch Event (March 25, 2025)
The Cycle 1 Celebration showcases all the projects support by the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships. Kendall Fortney and Chris Campany (Windham Regional Planning Commission) presented on the Wastewater Infrastructure Mapping project.
Ithaka S+R Webinar – University Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) in Action (March 20, 2025)
https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/university-open-source-program-offices-ospos-in-action/
This event is an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding about the role of OSPOs in academia and to learn from institutions that are pioneering efforts to institutionalize open source engagement. The panel includes Robin Delaloye, Associate Dean, Student Success and Scholarly Technology, George Washington University, Kendall Fortney, Program Director, Vermont Research Open Source Program Office, University of Vermont and Francesca Vera, Technical Community Manager for OpenSource@Stanford, Stanford University. VERSO Director Kendall Fortney participated in the panel
Regional Planning Commission (VAPDA) Meeting (March 6, 2025)
The Vermont Association of Planning and Development Agencies (VAPDA) is the statewide association for the State of Vermont’s 11 regional planning commissions. Chris Campany (Windham Regional Planning Commission) and Emma Spett (Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships) presented about the Wastewater Infrastructure Mapping project.
Vermont Works for Women – Rosie Girls Coding (February 28, 2025)
Rosie’s Girls is a STEAM, trades, and career exploration summer day camp for middle school girls offered in communities across Vermont. At Rosie’s Girls, youth are introduced to skills and career fields through hands-on learning in a supportive and empowering environment. Kendall Fortney presented how to code Arduino single-board microcontrollers in multiple coding languages at the Community Technical Center, South Burlington VT.
VECAP Data and Evaluation Committee (January 30, 2025)
Vermont’s Early Childhood Action Plan (VECAP) is building a comprehensive and integrated early childhood system that promotes healthy child development and family stability. Kendall Fortney presented on Utilizing Private Partners to Build State Capacity. It included a brief overview of the Vermont Zoning Atlas and the Wastewater Infrastructure Mapping projects at VERSO and exploration of opportunities to leverage the open source ecosystem across the early childhood system
Economic Development Professionals Gathering (January 28, 2025)
The Economic Development Professionals Gathering at the Colchester Town Offices brings together a wide spectrum of city professionals. Kendall Fortney presented along with student Zach Winigrad on the Vermont Zoning Atlas and the Vermont Liveabiltiy Map
Innovation Improv: Open Source Resources (January 9, 2025)
The first Innovation Improv of the year at the Patrick Leahy Building where Kendall Fortney presented about open-source resources here at UVM and how they can be used to help innovation make an impact.
Data + Open Science Summit (January 7-9, 2025)
The Data + Open Science Summit at UVM, hosted by the UVM Library, Vermont Research Open Source Program Office (VERSO), the Graduate College and the Office of the Provost with instructional support from NASA and the Software Carpentries, supports UVM’s commitment to transparent, collaborative, and accessible research. This free event offers faculty, graduate students, postdocs, and staff the opportunity to engage with trainings and workshops on data management planning, empowering researchers to maximize the impact of their work. Kendall Fortney was the organizer along the UVM Library
2024
Vermont Statewide Housing Conference (November 14, 2024)
For over 20 years, the Vermont Statewide Housing Conference in Burlington, VT has drawn hundreds of Vermonters interested in affordable housing together. This is the only conference that brings together housing professionals from across the state to cover a comprehensive range of topics like housing development, single family financing, affordable housing, housing policy, local planning for housing, homelessness, and other special topics. Kendall Fortney presented on the Vermont Zoning Atlas Project along with Yoshi Bird.
Green Mountain Water Fall Trade Show (November 7, 2024)
GMWEA’s Fall Tradeshow is Vermont’s largest and longest-running water quality conference, presented each year at the state’s premiere venue, the DoubleTree Hotel in South Burlington. Each fall, over 400 water, wastewater, and stormwater professionals, water quality technology and service providers, DPW administrators, staff from nonprofit organizations, and State agency administrators convene to attend the conference. Kendall Fortney, Chris Campany (Windham Regional Planning Commission) and Emma Spett (Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships) presented about the Wastewater Infrastructure Mapping project.
FSRC Sustainability Metrics Open Data Discussion (October 18, 2024)
FSRC is hosting on open data for the Sustainability Metrics projects. Kendall Fortney presented on a more in-depth conversation about the logistics of open data for these projects.
Innova802 Podcast Recording : Activate with UVM’s Open Source(September 12, 2025)
This podcase by Vermont tech leaders Will Jeffries, Ryan Munn and Scott Graves as they discover the best in technology-driven entrepreneurship. Kendall Fortney spoke on the power of the open-source community in shaping a society that delivers human-scaled, beneficial solutions in technology.
PyData Vermont 2024 (July 29 to July 30, 2024)
https://pydata.org/vermont2024/
PyData Vermont 2024 is a two day in-person event at Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington Vermont 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. 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? (July 11, 2025)
https://events.linuxfoundation.org/whatsnext4oss/
The Linux Foundation’s What’s Next for Open Source? event is a workshop that explores the future of open source and its impact on global cooperation. The event includes discussions and hands-on activities which allow participants to share insights. The 2024 event will take place on July 11, immediately following the OSPOs for Good 2024 symposium. The event will feature a panel and speakers, including Omkhar Arasaratnam, General Manager for the OpenSSF, and Arun Gupta, OpenSSF Governing Board Chairperson. VERSO Director Kendall Fortney participated in a working group on starting an OSPO in an academic Institutions
United Nations OSPOS for Good 2024 (July 9-10, 2024)
https://www.un.org/techenvoy/content/ospos-good-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 at nited Nations Building, New York City, NY 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”
CURIOSS Members Summer Workshop 2024 (June 27, 2024)
https://verso.w3.uvm.edu/curioss-summer-workshop-2024/
Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 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 at Hula in Burlington, VT. 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. 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 Commission.
2024 Rural Entrepreneurship Symposium (June 19 – 21, 2024)
https://www.usasbelaunch.org/2024rural
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”. Kendall Fortney presented “Empowering Innovation: The Journey from Academic Research to Open Source Impact”
Leadership Champlain – Energy and Environment Day (April 9, 2024)
https://lccvermont.org/leadership/
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 at Burlington Electric 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. Kendall Fortney presented with Yoshi Bird on the Vermont Zoning Atlas
UVM Day of Data Techniques and Tools (January 9, 2024)
https://uvm.libcal.com/calendar/chats-about-stats/data-day
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”
2023
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, pleas contact us
- UVM – Advanced Programming (Lisa Dion) – April 11, 2025
- UVM – Product Management IPD (Keith Doyle) – March 17, 2025
- UVM – Creativity Cornerstone (Erik Monsen) – Mar 6 2025
- UVM – Data Science 1 (Juniper Lovato) – Feb 27, 2025
- UVM – CS 2300 Advanced Programming (Lisa Dion) – Nov 12, 2024
- UVM – CDAE 1600 Design Innovation (Sarah Williamson) – Sep 16, 2024
- UVM – Data Science 1 (Alice Patania) – Oct 30,2024
- 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