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

[Joshua Udall]

Ditto here.  I would be happy to mentor a student or pitch in some other way.

Josh

On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 10:14 AM, Mark A. Jensen <maj at fortinbras.us> wrote:
> 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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-- 
Joshua Udall
Assistant Professor
295 WIDB
Plant and Wildlife Science Dept.
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
801-422-9307
Fax: 801-422-0008
USA