Calling all oceanographic data open source software maintainers: be a mentor for Google’s Summer of Code 2024! IOOS plans to apply as a mentoring organization for Google Summer of Code 2024. IOOS has participated previously in GSoC 2021 and 2022:

To be accepted, we need as many project ideas submitted as possible by the Feb 6, 2024 deadline. Mentors don’t need to be affiliated with IOOS directly — if your software is open source and is connected in some way to oceanography or ocean data, we’re happy to include it in our application.

Serving as a mentor for Google Summer of Code can be a highly rewarding experience — coach an aspiring student on open source software development and coding best practices; broaden the use of your software; get that project or feature you’ve had on the back burner completed! Student projects can involve developing code, contributing training materials or use case examples, or extending the scope of software in new, untested or innovative directions.  

If you’d like to contribute a project idea (a small, medium or large coding project for a student to work on as a summer project with a stipend provided by Google), please submit your idea to the IOOS GSoC GitHub repository: https://github.com/ioos/gsoc by Feb 6.

Draft or initial project ideas are OK. Project ideas need to include basic background information (project description and purpose, expected skills, mentor names), but it’s a fairly easy lift to propose a new project. If IOOS has a strong enough application to be accepted to the 2024 program, you’ll have until the student application period begins on March 18 to polish your project and add additional details before students can apply.

The 2024 GSoC program includes three sizes of student projects (the time they’ll have to complete it): medium at ~175 hours, large at ~350 hours and a new size: small at ~90 hours. See the following google links for more information:Tips for mentoring, Defining project ideas, and an Overview of the 2024 GSoC program. 

Mentors are expected to be able to commit several hours per week working with your selected student on their contributions: reviewing submitted code/documentation and providing feedback to ensure the student’s project is successful. Of course, the more time you can spend working with your student on their project, the better chance of success and the greater reward for both student and mentor.  

Please reach out to Micah (micah.wengren@noaa.gov), Matt (Mathew.Biddle@noaa.gov), or Filipe (ocefpaf@gmail.com) to discuss project ideas or with any other GSoC questions, or file an issue with your question or suggestion in the ioos/gsoc repository. 

2024 IOOS DMAC Code Sprint, May 21 - 23: Registration is now open for the 2024 IOOS DMAC Code Sprint on  May 21 - 23, 2024. Along with our partner MARACOOS, we're hosting an in person event at the Pitch at the WHARF in Washington D.C. with an option for virtual participation. Registration is now open! Please register by April 20th, 2024 using this form. 

For more information about the IOOS 2024 DMAC Code Sprint see: https://ioos.github.io/ioos-code-sprint/2024/  

If you are interested in participating, below are a couple important pieces of information:

• Hotel rooms: For those attending in-person, hotel reservations through our block at the Canopy by Hilton are available through April 20, 2024. Group Code: CCOSP. More details can be found here.
• Travel Vouchers: We will have a limited number of travel vouchers available again this year to assist with travel and hotel for in person attendees. They are made available by the IOOS Program Office for members of IOOS Regional Association staff and partners. More details will follow.
• Topics: As in previous Code Sprint events, the topics are identified by the participants. Have a problem that’s been nagging you? Need some help pushing something over the finish line? Have an idea but need to brainstorm on a solution? Submit your ideas here.

If you already have ideas about code sprint projects, we recommend that you submit an issue to the IOOS Code Sprint repository, identifying the scope of that topic. This will help ensure each code sprint topic has a plan that can be executed during the code sprint week.

Save the date! DMAC Annual Meeting, April 2 - 4: We are pleased to announce that the 2024 DMAC Annual Meeting will take place virtually in the afternoons between 1 pm and 5 pm ET Tue April 2 - Thu April 4, 2024. To help us identify topics of interest to the IOOS DMAC community, we've created an agenda input document. Please contribute your ideas for both plenary session presentations as well as for breakout discussion and/or workshop sessions. Please complete all fields, including your name as topic suggester, so that we may follow up if needed. This DMAC Annual Meeting intentionally precedes the hybrid 2024 DMAC Code Sprint, scheduled for May 21-23, 2024 in Washington DC.  Please send any questions or suggestions to the IOOS DMAC team at data.ioos@noaa.gov.

Last Call! IOOS Advisory Committee is Seeking New Members: NOAA is seeking new members for the IOOS Advisory Committee. The Notice of New Member Solicitation has been published in the Federal Register to fill 10 vacancies that will occur in September 2024. To learn more about eligibility and requirements to apply, please refer to the federal register notice (FRN). Nominations should be submitted no later than January 17, 2024. More information on this opportunity can be found here, and information on the committee and the current board members can be found here.

Come work with us!

• Program Analyst, Program Management Support
• Program Analyst, Regional Coordination Support
• Program Analyst, Environmental Compliance
• Physical Scientist, Project Management Support
• Physical Scientist, Service Delivery of Ocean Prediction
• Physical Scientist, Data Management and Product Development
• IT Specialist