As described in a prior blog article, the Better Scientific Software (BSSw) organization is launching a new BSSw Fellowship Program to give recognition and funding to leaders and advocates of high-quality scientific software. This blog article summarizes questions/answers from a recent Q&A session. A recording of the Q&A session is also available.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fellowship application deadline for this year?
The application deadine is January 5, 2018, before midnight, PST. This is a firm deadline that will not be extended.
Is a particular format required for the proposal?
Yes, please see the BSSw Fellowship webpage for details, including a link to the application form. Question summary:
Experience:
- Describe your work relevant to scientific software (1000 - 1500 characters).
- Describe your background and experience relevant to being a BSSw Fellow (1000 - 1500 characters).
Proposed work and impact:
- What would you do as a BSSw Fellow? (1000 - 1500 characters).
- What impact do you foresee from your efforts? (1000 - 1500 characters).
Are there any restrictions on how the funding is used? Can it be used for travel?
Funding can be used to support effort in developing and delivering content, including travel.
Do you require a budget plan to be submitted as part of the application? if so, how detailed does it have to be?
Brief budget information can be provided as part of the proposed work section of the application. We will follow up later about more specific details.
So one idea would be to host a bunch of tutorials at our host institute on useful software practices, like version control? Is this the right idea?
We encourage emphasis on activities with a view toward broad impact, with some element that could serve more than a single set of people attending a single event.
So it is a possibility to host some of the content on the BSSw website? For instance if we create a video recording of a tutorial, etc.
We welcome content contributions to the site, in a variety of formats.
Are there any existing surveys or descriptions about the greatest needs in scientific software development?
Needs span throughout diverse areas of scientific software, including topics listed in the Computational Science and Engineering Software Sustainability and Productivity Workshop Report. Specific current needs include practices and methodologies that:
- Assist transition to modern high concurrency node architectures to exploit features such as vector, GPU, threading and tasking.
- Are used by the broader software community and can be adapted and adopted for use in scientific software.
- Assist new scientific C++ programmers migrating from Fortran.
- Help teams collaborate more effectively.
Do you expect fellows to attend events or meetings?
We encourage fellows to attend the Exascale Computing Project Annual Meeting, to be held during the week of Feb 5, 2018 in Knoxville, TN.
Does the proposal have to be involved with the Exascale Computing Project (ECP) or any kind of funded project?
No, connections are not required to any funded projects. We encourage applications from the broad scientific software community, regardless of funding sources.
Is co-authorship allowed for applications to the BSSw Fellowship Program or you expect proposals to have solitary authors?
While we recognize that lots of important work takes place as collaborative partnerships, the BSSw Fellowship Program is limited to individual applicants.
Other questions?
If you have additional questions, please contact us via email to info@bssw.io.
