To maximize the social and economic impact of open source software in research and education, four universities within The University of Texas System are launching a planning effort to create the first-ever UT System Open Source Program Office. This office will expand the current work of the UT Austin OSPO, which launched in October 2023.
With continued support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the project is led by experts from the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin, UT Austin Central IT Services office, UT Dallas Office of Research and Innovation, UT El Paso office of Research and Innovation, and UT San Antonio Office of the CIO.
“We are deeply grateful to the Sloan Foundation for supporting a coordinated UT System effort to strengthen the infrastructure for open-source research software,” said Jennifer Schopf, principal investigator and director of Networking Partnerships at TACC.
“By expanding access and improving reproducibility, this funding lays the groundwork for researchers to develop, share, and sustain software more effectively across disciplines. It’s an investment in a framework that will grow into something far greater than the sum of its parts with the potential to accelerate discovery and impact the entire UT System and beyond.”
Schopf spoke on behalf of the full team, which is led by R. Gabe Cavazos, assistant vice president for Research Data and Information Systems, UT Dallas; Salamah Salamah, associate vice president for Scientific Computing and Artificial Intelligence, UT El Paso; Nassos Galiopoulos, chief technology officer and deputy CIO, UT San Antonio; and Angela Newell, Office of the CIO, UT Austin.
“We’re excited by the opportunity to grow from early successes at UT Austin to a state-wide network that supports open-source work,” said Joshua M. Greenberg, director of the Sloan Foundation’s Technology program. “Building institutional capacity for open-source collaborations across Texas will lay the foundation for impactful, cross-disciplinary research and education.”
This initiative builds on UT Austin’s leadership in advancing open source software for research and extends those benefits to a broader community. Designed to grow into a system-wide resource, the project will ultimately serve all 13 institutions in the UT System, together reaching more than 250,000 students and researchers across Texas.
The new collaboration will empower researchers to build on existing campus infrastructures, unify and grow current initiatives, create new opportunities for engagement, and strengthen interdisciplinary connections throughout Texas.
For more information, contact: Jennifer Schopf, Texas Advanced Computing Center, The University of Texas at Austin, jms@tacc.utexas.edu.
Jennifer Schopf
Principal Investigator and Director of Networking Partnerships at TACC, UT Austin