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In June, NASA’s DEVELOP project hosted a two-week Software Carpentry Workshop as a skill building opportunity. The workshop aimed to introduce participants to coding best practices and facilitate the use of programming languages in their DEVELOP projects and in their future careers in Earth science. The DEVELOP team planned eight training sessions to provide professional development and assist teams working entirely on a remote basis.

Screenshot of the DEVELOP participants in a workshop
Members of DEVELOP participating in the June 2020 workshop. Credits: NASA/DEVELOP

There were 54 participants across 11 DEVELOP locations who joined the event to learn the basics of several coding and programming languages often used for scientific analysis. The participants included currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students, recent graduates and career transitioning professionals. Personnel from DEVELOP and other Capacity Building program area elements, as well as several DEVELOP alumni volunteers, served as instructors and helpers.

“We realized programming was a needed skill for workforce development, especially in our field,” said Kenton Ross, chief scientist at DEVELOP. “This workshop increased DEVELOP’s technical training capability at the program level.”

DEVELOP, part of the Applied Sciences’s Capacity Building program area, fosters the next generation of leaders and Earth observation users by building their capacity to address environmental and policy concerns using NASA Earth observations. Learn more about their work by visiting the Capacity Building program area’s project portfolio page.

NASA DEVELOP worked with non-profit project The Carpentries, which trained and certified all instructors and provided logistical support to the workshop.  

Note that references to external organizations are included for informational purposes only. No official NASA or other endorsements are intended or implied.

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