Open@RIT and LibreCorps: Supporting Faculty and Staff Open Work in STEM via the Open Source Way at RIT

The Open Source Programs Office is an industry construct created to support Open Source Software creation and contributions in an enterprise. Though the charters of them vary somewhat from case to case, they generally act as center of gravity for employee outreach, education and support while creating or advising on policy and compliance.

Recently there’s been a movement to bring the OSPO to academia and civic institutions. Johns Hopkins was the first to adopt a University OSPO in the US, with the Rochester Institute of Technology following soon after. 

This talk will discuss the charter and goals of Open@RIT in general across the university and in particular the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funded LibreCorps team and their mission to provide community building/supporting infrastructure to Faculty and staff projects. The intended result is that those supported projects will benefit in greater, impact, translational and sustainability of their efforts.

Speaker:  Stephen Jacobs (Rochester Institute of Technology

Stephen Jacobs is the Director of Open@RIT, the university’s Open Programs Office and a Professor with Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Interactive Games and Media. An interdisciplinary scholar working in several different areas that often overlap his work generally falls into three areas: Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software, Games and Interactive Media and Digital Humanities. He led the development of the Free and Open Source Software and Free Culture minor at RIT, the first of its kind in the country. He began his work in Open Source teaching RIT students to develop Open Source educational math and science games for the One Laptop Per Child initiative. His work in Open Source has been supported by The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Red Hat, Inc. and AT&T, among others.

The goal of STScI Engineering and Technology Colloquia is to provide speakers for our community of the highest caliber from leading-edge engineering and technology disciplines and promote collaboration with professionals across the Institute. The steering committee invites speakers not only from conventional engineering disciplines, but from across business, academia, and government. Obtaining speakers with perspectives and knowledge that can enrich the understanding of our staff and simultaneously enhance their connections with other professionals across the nation is fundamental to ensuring STScI remains at the forefront of its mission.

Please direct questions or comments to the contact above. The 2020-21 committee members are Martha Devaud, Sherita Hanna, Ian Jordan, Lisa Kleinwort, Donald McLean, Lauretta Nagel, Modhumita Sabata, and Eliza Wojtaszek.