OSPOSIUM

Open Source Program Office Symposium, Incubator, and User Meeting
September 23—24, 2026

The University of Texas System Open Source Program Office (Texas-OSPO) will be hosting the Open Source Program Office Symposium, Incubator, and User Meeting (OSPOSIUM).

The OSPOSIUM will bring together a broad set of scientists, engineers, students, and researchers from across the UT system who use, or are interested in using, open source software to advance their research. This meeting will feature a series of talks and panels highlighting efforts to date and featuring opportunities to collaborate. The event will consist of a full day of presentations with a reception on Wednesday, September 23, followed by a student-focused event, “Open to Work” on Thursday, September 24. This meeting will immediately follow TACCSTER 2026, the two-day annual symposium for Texas-based users of the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC).

This meeting is an opportunity to:

Hear about Texas-OSPO’s events and services
Listen to invited speakers from a range of disciplines
Participate in a friendly and conversational sessions with other open source software developers and researchers
Network with your fellow Texas-based researchers

For interested students, we will offer a limited number of stipends to attend both the OSPOSIUM and TACCSTER events.

The meeting will be in person at TACC on the J.J. Pickle Research Campus, part of The University of Texas at Austin.

Registration closes September 2, 2026.

Location & Lodging

The OSPOSIUM will be held in the ACB building on the J.J. Pickle Research Campus (PRC) of The University of Texas at Austin.

10505 Exploration Way
Austin, TX, 78758

Visit TACC's Contact Us page for directions, travel options, and additional helpful information. Lodging recommendations can be found here (hotels on Domain Dr. close enough to walk).

Agenda

Day 1: Wednesday September 23, 2026

8:30am	Breakfast (TACC Lobby)
9:00am	Welcome Dr. Jennifer Schopf PI, University of Texas System Open Source Program Office (Texas-OSPO)
9:15am	The State of Open Source Software across UT System Moderator: Dr. Jennifer Schopf Panelists: Dr. Salamah Salamah UTEP-OSPO Director, Associate Vice President for Scientific Computing and AI, UT El Paso Gabe Cavazos UTD-OSPO Director, Assistant Vice President for Research Data and Information Systems, UT Dallas Dr. Jessica Abel UTSA-OSPO Director, UT San Antonio Dr. Angela Newell UTAustin-OSPO Director, UT Austin Dr. W. Joe Allen Lead, University of Texas System Research Cyberinfrastructure Initiative (UTRC)
10:15am	Break
10:45am	Open Source Software Researcher Success Stories Moderator: TBD Panelists: Dr. Masa Prodanovic Professor and Associate Department Chair, Petroleum Engineering, UT Austin Dr. Natalia Villanueva Rosales Associate Professor of Computer Science, UTEP Dr. Patrick Brandt Professor, Political Science, UT Dallas Dr. Peyman Najafirad (Paul Rad) Associate Dean for Research and Partnerships, Computer Science, Associate Professor Computer Science, UT San Antonio
11:45am	Lunch and TACC Tours Tour 1: 11:45-12:15 Tour 2: 12:45-1:15
1:15am	Open Source Software and Technology Transfer Moderator: Angela Newell Panelists: Jacob Croft Director of Licensing and Commercialization, UT El Paso Agapito Sustaita Senior Licensing Specialist and Attorney, UT Austin Cliff Wimborne Intellectual Property Analyst, UT Dallas
2:15pm	Break
2:30pm	Student Led Initiatives in Open Source Software Moderator: Bianca Alvarez Panelists: Abhiram Tadepalli President of Nebula Labs, UT Dallas Ray Castaneda President for FOSS, MSCS student, UT El Paso Anudeep Bonagiri Co-Founder & CEO, Cruze Maps, Open Source Contributor for ACM, UT San Antonio
3:30pm	Closing Keynote Dr. Josh Greenberg The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
5:00pm	Reception

Day 2: Thursday September 24, 2026 (Half Day) | Open to Work Event

8:30am	Welcome Dr. Angela Newell UTAustin-OSPO Director, UT Austin Colleen Gleeson Associate Director Employer Integration, Career and Life Design Dr. Savneet Bains Career and Life Design
8:35am	Using Open Source Software in Your Academic Career
9:00am	Using Open Source Software in Your Industry Career Dr. Joe Stubbs Research Scientist, Cloud and Interactive Computing, Texas Advanced Computing Center
9:25am	Fireside Chat: Careers in Software Moderator: Dr. Angela Newell UTAustin-OSPO Director, UT Austin Participants: The Academic and Industry Speakers
9:45am	Break
10:00am	Navigating Technical Interviews
11:15am	Resumes for Technical Careers Workshop Colleen Gleeson Associate Director Employer Integration, Career and Life Design
12:00am	Networking and Skills Practice over Lunch