US Research Software Engineer Association

This week I had the opportunity to attend the 2025 US Research Software Engineer Association Conference in Philadelphia! I gave a talk on Personal Project Management and the 4 principles I have used as a Research Software Engineer to build an effective workflow:   1. Your workflow should work for you   2. Complexity is an enemy of effective work   3. Don’t be afraid to mimic industry   4. Take advantage of any independence Slides: https://lnkd.in/gB6BAKUx It is also a privilege to be a mentor as part of the US-RSE Mentorship Program, and I look forward to growing personally and professionally alongside my mentees. #usrse25

Last week, I participated in a career panel at #USRSE25, speaking to an audience of research software engineers (RSEs)—even though that's never been my official job title. It wasn't my first time navigating an undefined role. When I started doing data science 12 years ago, "data scientist" wasn’t in my employer’s HR system either. That was the main point I kept returning to during the panel: don't wait for a title or a defined role to do the work you believe in. Career paths and job structures can offer valuable guidance—but sometimes, they're simply missing. Treat your career like a research project: experiment, iterate, and learn by doing—even if you have to ask for forgiveness or retrace your steps sometimes. Still, doing this kind of work alone can be difficult and inefficient. That's why communities like US Research Software Engineer Association are so valuable. They provide connection, shared learning, and a sense of belonging that strengthens us all. 📸 Many thanks to my brilliant co-panelists (left to right): Patrick Diehl (LANL), Pengyin Shan (UIUC), Lauren Milechin (MIT) and Bei Wang (Nvidia)

Just finished presenting our work at #usrse25 with Yongtaek Oh! We developed PyEEG, a free and open-source Python toolkit for analyzing rodent EEG data. Our goal: bridge the gap between fragmented EEG pipelines and facilitate collaboration across labs and models. PyEEG emphasizes modularity, interoperability, and scalability, built on top of familiar neuroscience packages like MNE and SpikeInterface. It supports window-based and channel-based analysis, configurable artifact rejection, and hybrid parallel computing setups. Validated across multiple mouse epilepsy models, PyEEG provides a unified pipeline for computing rodent EEG features, making cross-lab EEG comparisons easier than ever. 🧠 Open source at https://lnkd.in/evciYgQr US Research Software Engineer Association

At the beginning of this week, I was honored to attend this year’s US Research Software Engineer Association Conference in Philadelphia, as part of the Building Engagement Program (BE@US-RSE), supported by Sustainable Horizons Institute. This was my first conference ever, and I’m really excited to join this supportive community. I truly believe that attending this conference helped me develop professional communication skills and build long-term relationships that will help me grow in the future. Before this program, I wasn’t familiar with the Research Software Engineer career path, but now I’m excited to say that I feel identified with this term and hope to one day pursue this path and become part of the “unicorn” community. 🦄 As part of this program, I volunteered in social media content creation and interviewed many of my peers, attendees, and SHI coordinators. I had so much fun and learned a lot from all the amazing people around me. I just want to say thank you to everyone who made this possible. Philadelphia and the Research Software Engineer community have taken a piece of my heart, and I’m really excited to stay engaged with the community and hopefully be able to attend next year’s conference! 💙 Special thanks to Mary Ann Leung, Tamsyn Feroleto, and the Sustainable Horizons Institute team for their incredible support and leadership. #USRSE25 #STEM #FirstConference #ResearchSoftwareEngineer #Philly #ResearchSoftware

🌟 Excited to be at USRSE 2025 in Philadelphia this week, sharing our work on surveydown with the research software community! This time, I had the opportunity to present the surveydown project, an open-source platform for building programmable, reproducible surveys with Quarto and Shiny — developed with my advisor Professor John Paul Helveston and undergraduate researcher Bogdan Bunea. It’s been inspiring to meet so many people advancing open science and research software — grateful for the conversations and ideas that will help us take surveydown even further! 🔗 Official cite: https://surveydown.org 💻 GitHub repo: https://lnkd.in/eWC9uDGT #USRSE25 #OpenSource #RStats #Quarto #Shiny #ResearchSoftware