FAQ for Mentors

What kind of projects are you accepting? Are there specific technologies or topics that you prefer?

The OSRE program supports projects in a wide range of open source communities. We have no requirement for the type of technology or aspects of the project being worked on, so long as it is or ultimately will be part of an open source project or community, or – in the case of SoR – is related to creating or using reproducibility artifacts.

What is the process for becoming a mentor and submitting a project / project idea?

The program organizers invite potential mentors to post their project ideas directly onto the Project Ideas page so that potential student can review them. Project ideas do not have to be pre-screened by the OSRE/SoR organizers in order to be submitted. We will review your submission before uploading to list and let you know if we have any questions about your project idea or think the description could use any editing/additional information.

To add a project idea, please read the instructions for participating mentors. In a change from the ideas page of previous years, we will feature each overarching project on a separate page which will include all the relevent mentors’ project ideas. Projects now use tags to associate with a particular year and whether it is a UC or SoR project (or both). More tags can be used to associate the project with a particular research area, e.g. chip design, storage systems, data science.

There is a mentor-only mailing list. Please write us an email if you want to be added to this list.

For new research groups wishing to join OSRE: just create one or more projects (see instructions).

We need one contact person for each new group, so please email us.

What happens after a mentor submits a project idea and what criteria is used to determine which student projects get support for the summer?

Once we open the project ideas page up for review by potential students, interested students will begin reaching out to mentors with questions about the project and requests for review of their potential OSRE project. The proposal writing process is iterative and the mentor works closely with students as they formulate a proposal for their summer project based on the mentor’s project idea. The primary criteria for what projects get picked for support is the extent to which the mentor and student appear to be a good fit. Mentors are ultimately responsible for choosing a student project that will be beneficial to their overal work. Other criteria we consider when deciding between mentor project are whether a student’s projects will have a signficant impact on the relevant open source or research ecosystem and if all timelines and deliverables seem attainable. The importance of building and maintaining a diverse community is also an important goal of the SoR and OSRE, thus the inclusion of mentors and applicants from historically excluded groups will also be consideration when selecting student projects.

Can students who work with a mentor already be considered for support under the OSRE or SoR?

Typically OSRE student are new to open source and new to the communities that they will work with over the summer. Students already working on those projects will therefore generally not be allowed to apply under the OSRE although organizers will consider these proposal on a case-by-case basis. Note that this is not a restriction for Summer of Reproducibility projects and projects supported under the REPETO project. In those cases, mentors can encourage students they know to apply for SoR student slots. If you have questions on this please contact the OSRE organizers.

How are selected students compensated for their summer work?

Selected students are provided a stipend for the summer. The amount of stipend they receive are based on the number of hours their project is expected to take. For example a full time project is considered to take approximately 350 hours over the course of the summer. A US-based student will receive approximately $6000 over the course of the summer for a full time project. Note that the stipend rate for students is based on the location where they will be completing the work. OSRE typically uses the same rate as those for the Google Summer of Code contributors. Questions about stipends can be addressed to OSRE organizers.