Open Source Conference GW OSCON | The GW Open Source Program Office

Join students, faculty, and staff for two days of learning, sharing, and collaborating in open-source software.

GW's First Annual Open Source Conference

March 24-25, 2025 • Washington, D.C.

Hosted by the GW Open Source Program Office (OSPO), this conference brings together students, faculty, and staff passionate about open-source software, with guests from our cherished city of Washington DC, and beyond. Whether you’re an experienced contributor or just beginning, this event offers a platform to learn, share, and connect with others in the open-source community.

Conference Highlights

The GW OSCON will feature:

Presentations from key members of GW's open source community.

Lightning talks from students and researchers contributing to open source.

Panel discussions with policy makers and federal agency representatives.

The event opening will feature welcome remarks by GW law professor and Provost, Christopher Bracey. He is a leading scholar on race, inequality, and the law

March 24, 9:00 AM

Keynote Speakers

Be inspired by these leaders of the open source community, from our university, the Washington DC area, and beyond.

Prof. Keith Crandall

Director of the Computational Biology Institute and the Genomics Core at GW, Prof. Crandall is a pioneer in bioinformatic approaches for studying microbial pathogenesis, candidate gene detection, and variant associations with disease and treatment states. His ModelTest paper was highlighted by Nature in 2014 as one of the top 100 cited papers in the history of science.

Dr. Steve Crawford

Astronomer and Science Data Officer for the Science Mission Directorate of NASA, Dr. Crawford previously managed the teams maintaining the calibration software for the Hubble Space Telescope and building the calibration software for the Webb Space Telescope and Roman Space Telescope. He is the program officer for NASA's support of open-source software tools, frameworks, and libraries.

Andrea Fletcher

Chief Digital Strategy Officer (CDSO) at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). She is responsible for digital transformation and modernization efforts, promoting interoperability and public access to health data, and recruiting the next generation of technical talent into federal service.

Inessa Pawson

Inessa is an active contributor to the Python ecosystem (NumPy, NumFOCUS, PyOpenSci, SciPy conference, PyCon US Maintainers Summit). In her role as Open Source Program Manager at OpenTeams, she leads initiatives focused on widening the contributor pipeline and bringing funding to more open source projects.

Remy DeCausemaker

Open Source Lead for the Digital Service at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS.) He helps developers, designers, and other contributors work with civil servants to create open accessible healthcare technology projects, programs, and policy.

Visit our OSCON 2025 Speakers page for our full list of speakers.

Program

Location: Continental Ballroom: Welcome, Keynotes, Panels, Lunch, Lightning talks.
The Contributor Hub, room 301, for coffee breaks. See each regular session for room numbers.

gw_oscon_program.pdf

Program & Book of Abstracts

Mon. March 24
Tue. March 25

Time

Event

8–9am

Registration & Coffee

9–9:30am

Welcome & Provost remarks

9:30–10am

Keynote: Steve Crawford, program executive for NASA's Open Source Science Initiative: Title: "Open Source Software at NASA"
Abstract:
Software has been a common thread across all of NASA's major achievements from the Moon landing to the deepest images of our Universe. Today, NASA relies on, releases, and contributes to Open Source Software (OSS) to advance its scientific missions. From monitoring our planet and Sun to running in our missions on other planets, OSS is critical to addressing NASA's biggest challenges on climate change, exploring the solar system, and discovering life beyond Earth. The Ingenuity helicopter, exploring the surface of Mars, is guided by OSS. The amazing images of the earliest galaxies from the James Webb Space Telescope were made possible by OSS developed openly and contributed back to the community. In this talk, we discuss some of the history of open source at NASA, a sampling of open source projects, and next steps in open source for NASA. Along with OSS, we will also highlight some of NASA’s open science activities and opportunities that will advance transformational science.

Bio: Steve Crawford is Senior Program Executive for data and computing in the Science Mission Directorate of NASA. He is the lead for the Open Science Implementation and led the development of SMD’s Scientific Information Policy. Previously, he has managed the teams maintaining the open source calibration software for the Hubble Space Telescope and Webb Space Telescope. He has a PhD in Astronomy and previously working on the Southern African Large Telescope. He was a founding member of Astropy and a former scientific editor at the American Astronomical Society journals with a focus on software and machine learning.

10:10–10:30am

Featured speaker: Inessa Pawson, OpenTeams (sponsor)

Title: "Bridging Academia and Open Source: Opportunities for Researchers"

Abstract:
Academia and open source share a lot in common—both thrive on curiosity, iteration, and knowledge sharing. But too often, these worlds operate in parallel rather than in partnership. This talk explores how researchers can engage with open source communities—not just as users, but as active contributors. We’ll dive into the practical benefits of open source for academic research, from improving reproducibility to unlocking new funding models and accelerating interdisciplinary discovery. Along the way, we’ll confront some challenges, such as institutional barriers and sustainability concerns, and discuss actionable ways researchers can bridge the gap. Whether you’re new to open source or already deep in the ecosystem, this conversation will help you navigate the space and maximize your impact.

10:30–11am

Coffee Break

11am–12:00pm

Regular session 1 (3 Tracks: 3 × 15 min)

Time	Title	Presenter(s)
11:00am	Building Stronger Communities for Population-scale Open Source Technology	Shailiza Mayal
11:20am	The Future of Work: What Open Source Teaches Us About Distributed Collaboration	Ben Balter
11:40am	What is the Lyrasis Organizational Home?	Bridget Almas

Time	Title	Presenter(s)
11:00am	The Early Years of Scientific Python	Paul Barrett
11:20am	Sourcing Open Source: Building an Inclusive Computational Pedagogy in GW LAI's Python Camp	Dolsy Smith, Daphna Atias, Emily Blumenthal, Marcus Peerman, Max Turer
11:40am	Open Source Tools, Open Weight Models, and Affordable Hardware: Generative AI Without Breaking the Bank	Glen MacLachlan

Time	Title	Presenter(s)
11:00am	surveydown: An Open-Source, Markdown-Based Platform for Interactive and Reproducible Surveys Using R, Quarto, and Shiny	JP Helveston, Pingfan Hu
11:20am	Fostering Student Research Engagement Using Open-Source	Mike Sanders
11:40am	Civic Tech DC: Open Source for Public Good	Michael Deeb, Alma Trotter

12:00–1:00pm

Lunch

1:00–2:00pm

Panel: Discovering & Fostering Inviting Open Source Project Communities.: Moderator: Geneva Henry, GW Vice Provost for Information Technology
Panelists:
– Naty Clementi, Sr Software Engineer, NVIDIA, GW alumna-SEAS
– Inessa Pawson, Open Source Program Manager at OpenTeams (sponsor)
– Max Turer, Senior Web Developer, GW Library & Academic Innovation (LAI)
– Mio Diaz, Sr Software Engineer, Capital One OSPO

2:00–2:30pm

Break

2:30–3:30pm

Regular session 2 (3 Tracks: 3 × 15 min)

Time	Title	Presenter(s)
2:30pm	Survival Guide for Software Engineers	Mio Diaz Santiago
2:50pm	Drupal: More Than a CMS—A Community, a Career, a Cause	Nneka Hector
3:10pm	Open-Source and Participatory AI as Civic Science	Alexa Alice Joubin

Time	Title	Presenter(s)
2:30pm	Practical lessons from nine years of project maintaining	Colin Fleming
2:50pm	Civic Tech: Making Ballot Access More Equitable	Andrew Shao
3:10pm	Restoring Trust in the Digital World: A Tiered Approach to Identity	Michael Deeb

Time	Title	Presenter(s)
2:30pm	Executable science: reproducing neuroscience analyses through collaborative open source tools and practices.	Kristijan Armeni
2:50pm	Reproducible Data Science with Open Source Tools	Jay Qi
3:10pm	Positioning the R in Open Source: RStudio + GItHub + renv workflows	Daniel Kerchner

3:30–3:45pm

Short Break

3:45–5:30pm

Lightning talks - 5 min each

6–8pm

Dinner for presenters, sponsors, and organizers

Time

Event

8:30–9:30am

Registration & Coffee

9:30–9:40am

Welcome

9:40–10:10am

Keynote: Andrea Fletcher and Remy DeCausemaker, Centers for for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Title: "Running The First Federal Open Source Program Office at CMS.gov"
Abstract:
The Digital Service at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (DSAC) has stood up the first Open Source Program Office (OSPO) at a Federal Agency in the United States. Andrea Fletcher, CMS Chief Digital Strategy Officer and Director of DSAC, and Remy DeCausemaker, Open Source Program Office Lead, will share the Agency’s OSPO Journey, and stories of how Open Source has become central to the Agency’s digital strategy to reduce risks and costs, while improving transparency, to build public trust.

10:15–10:30am

Featured speaker: Brandon Tabaska, Nava (sponsor)

Title: "Embracing Open Source GovTech"
Abstract:
Open source is transforming the way governments deliver technology and services. In this talk, we’ll explore why open source is not just a cost-saving measure but a strategic enabler for more secure, transparent, and innovative government technology. Drawing from real-world examples, including federal and state-level projects, we’ll examine how open source fosters collaboration between public agencies, private sector contributors, and the broader developer community. The session will cover best practices for adopting open source in government, strategies for overcoming cultural and operational barriers, and how to build sustainable open source ecosystems. Attendees will leave with practical insights on how to drive open source adoption in their own organizations and leverage it to deliver better public services.

Bio: Brandon Tabaska is an Open Source Developer Evangelist at Nava, where he works on the simpler.grants.gov project, helping connect developers to open source opportunities and fostering a growing contributor community. Prior to that, Brandon contributed to the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave project, improving accessibility and streamlining benefits delivery. Before joining Nava, he worked at NASA Ames Research Center on the Mission Assurance Systems project, focusing on enhancing software reliability for critical missions. Outside of work, Brandon enjoys gardening and diving into a good book.

10:30–11am

Coffee Break

11am–12:00pm

Panel: Open Source Artificial Intelligence: Moderator: Prof. Lorena A. Barba, OSPO faculty director
Panelists:
– Sayeed Choudhury, Director of the OSPO at Carnegie Mellon University, and board member for OSI.
– Dr. Ray Bell, AI and ML director of the state of Maryland
– Wing Lian, founder of Axolotl, a company that aids in fine-tuning LLMs with OSS
– Anastassia Kornilova, Director of ML and Founding Engineer at Trustible AI

12:00–1:00pm

Lunch

1:00–2pm

Regular session 3 (2 Tracks: 3 × 15 min)

Amphitheater
309

Time	Title	Presenter(s)
1:00pm	LaborLedger: A Decentralized Solution for Fair Work and Supply Chain Transparency	Emmanuel Teitelbaum, Tejaaswini Narendran
1:20pm	Mustering Open Source Volunteers to Tackle Online Disinformation Campaigns	Ben Sando, Helen Glover
1:40pm	Freezing Saddles: Open Source DC Winter cycling game	Richard Bullington-McGuire

Time	Title	Presenter(s)
1:00pm	Supporting Access to Public Benefits via Open-Source AI Tools	Martelle Esposito
1:20pm	Snapshot of research software development practices in the NIST Materials Science and Engineering Division	Jonathan Guyer
1:40pm	Econ-ARK: Open-Source Tools for Cutting-Edge Economic Research and Industry Applications	Alan Lujan

2–2:30pm

Break

2:30–3:30pm

Closing Keynote: Keith Crandall, GW Computational Biology Institute

Title: "From Open Source to Open Science"
Abstract:
Open source software for data analytics has revolutionized the scientific process. Yet, open source data lags behind for a variety of reasons from privacy issues to appropriate data repositories for the various data types. Many scientific journals have moved to "Gold" open access, placing the financial burden of publishing on individual investigators. While we strive to advance open concepts across the research enterprise, obstacles and issues remain that need to be better addressed by the research community. As the closing speaker to this exciting symposium, my talk will touch on these diverse issues associated with an open research enterprise, highlight pain points, and review insights from the conference speakers to help advance our open agendas.

Bio: Keith Crandall is the Founding Director of the Computational Biology Institute at the George Washington University and Professor in the Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics. He is a bioinformatician with training and research in evolutionary biology, population genetics, and computational biology. He develops open source tools for analyzing DNA sequence data, including phylogenetics (ModelTest, TCS), microbiome research (PathoScope, Telescope), and omics data integration and analysis (omePath, deepBreaks). He applies these tools and others to questions associated with human health and organismal diversity.

3:30–5:30pm

Art show& reception: "Public Sauce"

Conference organizers

General Chair

Lorena A. Barba — Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and OSPO Faculty Director

Planning Committee

David Lippert — OSPO Director

Robin Delaloye — Associate Dean, Student Success and Scholarly Technology

Daniel Kerchner — Senior Software Developer, Libraries and Academic Innovation

Mike Sanders — Senior Research Associate, GW Institute of Public Policy (GWIPP)

Chenxi Zhou — PhD student, GW Human-Technology Collaboration Program

Rosemary Pauley — Library Associate, Libraries and Academic Innovation

Program Committee

Lorena A. Barba — Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and OSPO Faculty Director

David Lippert — OSPO Director

Clark Gaylord — Director, GW Research Technology Services

Naty Clementi — Sr Software Engineer, NVIDIA, GW alumna-SEAS

The Sponsors of GW's First Annual Open Source Conference

GW believes in the power of open source to drive innovation and education. As the only R1 research institution with an engineering school in the nation’s capital, we are uniquely positioned to foster meaningful connections between academia, industry, and government.

Our sponsors are our partners in this inaugural celebration of open source communities in Washington DC!

Gold Sponsor $10,000

OpenTeams is a global leader in Open SaaS AI, making artificial intelligence transparent, ethical, and accessible by leveraging open source innovation.

Silver Sponsors $5,000

Simpler Grants is a project to modernize the Grants.gov experience and make it easier to find, share, and apply for grants. Led as an open-source project on GitHub.

RStudio (now Posit) was founded in 2009 to create open-source software for data science, scientific research, and technical communication.

Technology integrator and services for HPC, AI, scientific workstations, big data, and more.

Transform your Python code into production-ready data pipelines. Prefect offers tools to build, monitor, and scale your critical data workflows with confidence and efficiency.

Bronze Sponsor
$1,000

AWS

Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion (JEDI)

The GW OSCON is proud to have received a gold badge from the CHAOSS DEI Badging for Events.

All GW OSCON participants are expected to follow our Code of Conduct.

Getting Here

The GW Campus in Foggy Bottom is conveniently located in the heart of Washington, D.C., close to three major airports: Ronald Reagan Washington National, Washington Dulles International and Baltimore Washington International, as well as to Union Station where you can take the bus or train.

Public transportation is at your doorstep with the Foggy Bottom/GWU Metro stop on the Orange, Blue and Silver lines located right on campus.

GW's Open Source Program Office is generously supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Please use the GW Public Health and Safety site for emergency contacts, campus advisories, alerts, policy information, weather updates, and more.