[Bioperl-l] Google Summer of Code: Call for Bio* Volunteers

[Mark A. Jensen]

If my newbie status is not a barrier, I would be pleased to mentor 
a student. If it is a barrier, I would be pleased to look at applications
or what have you.
Mark
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hilmar Lapp" <hlapp at gmx.net>
To: "bioPerl List" <bioperl-l at lists.open-bio.org>
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 11:53 AM
Subject: [Bioperl-l] Google Summer of Code: Call for Bio* Volunteers


> Google is committed to run the Summer of Code program [1] again this  
> year. It will be for the 5th time.
> 
> In broad strokes, the program funds what you might call remote summer  
> internships for students to contribute to an open-source software  
> project. Participating projects (or umbrella organizations) provide  
> project ideas and supply mentors that guide the work on those.  
> Students apply to a project within the program with specific project  
> ideas, based on those suggested or based on their own idea, get ranked  
> by the mentors of the project, and those accepted into the program get  
> paired up with mentors. Projects are chiefly about programming, the  
> coding period is 3 months (Jun-Aug), and there is no travel required  
> by either student or mentor. The program is global; other than the US  
> trade restrictions that Google is under, there are no restrictions as  
> to where student or mentor reside. The main motivations behind the  
> program are to recruit new contributors to open-source projects, and  
> to produce more open-source code. See the program FAQs [2] for more  
> information.
> 
> I've had the honor of being part of the program for the last two  
> years, administering NESCent's participation as an organization [3]  
> and in 2007 mentoring a student. I have to say I find it the most  
> awesome open-source program since sliced bread (or the invention of  
> BLAST if that means more to you). Despite that and sadly enough, there  
> has been a dearth of participating bioinformatics projects (though  
> some notable ones, such as CytoScape have participated).
> 
> There have been two Bio* Summer of Code projects under the NESCent  
> umbrella, one in 2007 [4] and one in 2008 [5]. I would be willing to  
> volunteer to take the lead on and administer a full-blown  
> participation of O|B|F as a Bio* umbrella organization, provided 1) at  
> least one Bio* person volunteers to serve as backup administrator, and  
> 2) enough Bio* contributors volunteer to serve as prospective mentors.
> 
> Mentoring involves participating in creating the page of project ideas  
> (I'd provide template and guidance), corresponding with applicants who  
> have questions, participating in student application ranking, and for  
> primary mentors (those directly assigned to a student) based on  
> empirical evidence at least 5hrs/week of time spent with the student  
> to help him/her get over obstacles or avoid wrong paths.
> 
> I think almost all mentors would concur that the experience was very  
> gratifying, but as a mentor you will be spending a non-negligible  
> amount of time with the student. I think it is the student-mentor  
> pairing and interaction, not the stipend, that in the end makes the  
> participation for students uniquely productive in terms of learning,  
> and different from simply contributing to the project of choice (which  
> they could always do).
> 
> For a personal impression for how the program is from a mentor  
> perspective, I'll let Chris Fields speak who was the mentor for the  
> 2008 phyloXML in BioPerl project. From a student's perspective, I'll  
> leave it to the 2007 Biojava student Bohyun Lee (blee34-at- 
> mail.gatech.edu) and the 2008 BioPerl student Mira Han (mirhan-at- 
> indiana.edu) to comment (if they are still on the list).
> 
> So if you think this is a good idea for Bio* to be part of, if you  
> would like to help in some way, if you can see yourself as a mentor,  
> or if you are a lurking would-be student, please let yourself be  
> heard. Email either to the list or to me.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> -hilmar
> 
> [1] http://code.google.com/soc/2008
> 
> [2] http://code.google.com/opensource/gsoc/2009/faqs.html
> 
> [3] http://hackathon.nescent.org/Phyloinformatics_Summer_of_Code_2007
> http://hackathon.nescent.org/Phyloinformatics_Summer_of_Code_2008
> 
> [4] http://biojava.org/wiki/BioJava:PhyloSOC07
> 
> [5] http://bioperl.org/wiki/PhyloXML_support_in_BioPerl
> -- 
> ===========================================================
> : Hilmar Lapp  -:-  Durham, NC  -:-  hlapp at gmx dot net :
> ===========================================================
> 
> 
> 
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