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----
-layout: post
-title: "US-RSE April 2026 Newsletter"
-subtitle: "🤳 Just Hit Me Up On Slack 🤳"
-category: newsletter
-tags: [newsletter, April]
-date: 2026-04-07 00:00:00 -0400
-author: "Tinashe M. Tapera (Author & Editor), Sandra Gesing (Editor), Ian Cosden (Editor)"
-image: "/assets/img/newsletter-202604/austin-distel-gUIJ0YszPig-unsplash.jpg"
-img_alttext: "Slack message with team communicating and collaborating in app on desktop and mobile."
-next_meeting_date: Thursday, May 14, 2026, 12:00PM EST
-sections:
- preamble: true # done
- headline: true # done
- conference: true # done
- execupdate: false # none
- scupdate: true # yay!
- orgmember: true # no changes, check back in june
- communityfunds: false
- news: true # add community call summary
- events: true # recheck on friday
- reads: true
- involved: true
- jobs: true
-
----
-
-- [1 🔔 Just Slack Me, Whenever!
- 🔔](#bell-just-slack-me-whenever-bell)
-- [2 📣 Mark Your Calendars for
- USRSE’26! 📣](#mega-mark-your-calendars-for-usrse26-mega)
-- [3 🛞 Steering Committee
- Updates 🛞](#wheel-steering-committee-updates-wheel)
-- [4 🤝 Organizational Founding
- Membership
- 🤝](#handshake-organizational-founding-membership-handshake)
-- [5 🗞️ Community News
- 🗞️](#newspaper_roll-community-news-newspaper_roll)
-- [6 👀 Interesting Events and
- Opportunities 👀](#eyes-interesting-events-and-opportunities-eyes)
-- [7 📚 Featured Reads, Videos,
- and Podcasts 📚](#books-featured-reads-videos-and-podcasts-books)
-- [8 🏃 Get Involved!
- 🏃](#running-get-involved-running)
-- [9 🧑💼 Recent Job Postings
- 🧑💼](#office_worker-recent-job-postings-office_worker)
-
-
-
-Welcome to the April 2026 issue of the US Research Software Engineer
-(US-RSE) newsletter! If you’re reading this, you’re probably connected
-with US-RSE through Slack, which is our organization’s primary platform
-for instant messaging. Most people consider Slack a necessary burden of
-the workplace, having taken the place of phone calls, fax, pagers, and
-email. But is there more to Slack than annoying notifications? Today
-we’re going to discuss what Slack is, how it came about, and how US-RSE
-members use it to connect, grow, and make real, lasting impact beyond
-just their code editors.
-
-Question: Who do you think is the chattiest Slack user in US-RSE? Place
-your bets NOW!
-
-
-
-
-
-In this issue:
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-## 🔔 Just Slack Me, Whenever! 🔔
-
-
-
-In 2012, software engineer Stewart Butterfield was hard at work on what
-he believed to be the next big thing in MMORPGs. The game, called
-“Glitch,” ended up being a commercial flop, and Butterfield and his team
-needed to pivot quickly to make the most of the 6 million dollars they
-had left from investor Ben Horowitz. Instead of throwing in the towel,
-Butterfield called Horowitz on the phone and proposed a new idea.
-Throughout the development process, Butterfield told Horowitz, the team
-of engineers had developed a novel instant messaging system to
-facilitate commnunication in-game, and in the process of [eating their
-own dog food](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food),
-discovered that the system worked really well for managing their work
-communications, too. Butterfield proposed that their company, then
-called Tiny Speck, pivot to focus on building a new product based on
-this instant messaging system. The result was the creation of Slack,
-which has since become one of the most popular communication platforms
-in the world.
-
-Today, Slack powers communication and collaboration for millions of
-users and businesses, and has transformed the way teams collaborate and
-communicate. At US-RSE, we of course use Slack to manage internal
-communications between leadership teams, but more importantly, it has
-grown to become the virtual landing page for our community. At present,
-there are over 140 individual channels dating back to 2018, with over
-3100 unique member accounts participating in the conversation. Some days
-see over 500 messages going back and forth between members and channels:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-One unique feature of Slack is the ability to create channels, which act
-as virtual rooms dedicated to specific topics, projects, or interests.
-These channels can be private or public, allowing teams to organize
-conversations by priority, relevance, and interest. At US-RSE, we also
-have meta-grouping channels, such as “Working Groups,” (`#wg-`) and
-“Regional Groups,” (`#rg-`), which serve as hubs for specific
-communities within our larger organization. For example, the
-`#wg-code-review` and `wg-diversity-equity-inclusion` channels are
-spaces for members to discuss and collaborate on code review practices
-and DEI initiatives, respectively. The `#rg-nyc` channel serves as a hub
-for members located in and around the greater New York City area, where
-they plan get-togethers and other in-person events. Participating in
-public channels is a great way to stay informed about what’s going on in
-the community, and importantly, it allows everyone in the Slack channel
-to follow the conversation and chime in when they have something to
-contribute. This helps us all, “[learn with the garage door
-open](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/About_these_notes?stackedNotes=z21cgR9K3UcQ5a7yPsj2RUim3oM2TzdBByZu),”
-increasing the accessibility of our conversations and the impact of our
-work.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-It may be obvious that the `#general` channel has the most messages, but
-did you know that in a one-year span, some of the most active channels
-include `#random`, `#events`, and `#wg-ux`? The most popular
-language-specific channel in the Slack was, of course, `#python`, and
-the most active regional group channel was `#rg-north-carolina`.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-And while we as RSEs may still be evaluating AI for its usefulness in
-our work, Slack’s built-in AI summarization tool tells us that there are
-a wide array of conversations happening in our Slack, from conference
-planning, to project management, to hiring and funding announcements.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-If you haven’t already, we encourage you to join our Slack and get
-involved in the conversation. It’s a great way to stay informed about
-what’s going on in the community, connect with other members, and
-contribute to the ongoing work of US-RSE. You can get onto our Slack by
-joining US-RSE free, [here](https://us-rse.org/join/).
-
-PS: Just for fun, here’s a table of the top 9 chatty RSEs in our Slack:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-See you on Slack!
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-## 📣 Mark Your Calendars for USRSE’26! 📣
-
-
-
-Save the date for USRSE’26: **Advancing Science in the Age of AI**
-
-We’re thrilled to announce that USRSE’26 will be held at the San Jose
-Marriott from October 19-21, 2026 in San Jose, California, with the
-theme **“Advancing Science in the Age of AI”.**
-
-General chairs have been appointed to lead each of the core committees
-for USRSE’26. These chairs have begun assembling sub‑teams from the pool
-of volunteers who expressed interest in supporting the respective areas.
-If you were not selected for a chair position, please stay tuned, as
-chairs reach out for volunteers for these committee positions.
-
-**What’s next?**
-
-- **Call for Proposals:** The Call for Proposals will be announced later
- this month. Additional upcoming milestones will be announced on the
- official USRSE’26 site over the next few months.
-- **Committee Formation:** Sub‑teams will be formed shortly; be on the
- lookout for an email from a perspective committee chair with details.
-- **Stay Informed:** Regular updates will be posted at
- [us-rse.org/usrse26](https://us-rse.org/usrse26). Please bookmark the
- page and check back frequently for the latest information.
-
-Your continued involvement is essential to the success of USRSE’26. We
-look forward to collaborating with you to deliver a vibrant, inclusive,
-and impactful conference.
-
-#### 📧 Join Our Mailing List 📧
-
-Want to stay updated on all things US-RSE? Join our mailing list to
-receive direct news about all US-RSE conferences. Sign up
-[here](https://groups.google.com/a/us-rse.org/g/usrse-conference).
-
-#### 💬 Have Questions? 💬
-
-If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the organizers at
-usrse26-conference@us-rse.org.
-
-#### 📅 Save the Date 📅
-
-More details about the conference program, registration, and travel
-information will be coming your way in the months ahead. Stay tuned at
-[us-rse.org/usrse26](https://us-rse.org/usrse26)!
-
-We’re looking forward to seeing you all in **San Jose**!
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-## 🛞 Steering Committee Updates 🛞
-
-
-
-
-
-It’s been a while since you’ve heard from us in the newsletter, but the
-Steering Committee has been hard at work! Together with our Executive
-Director, we’ve have done considerable work to support planning of the
-USRSE’26 conference, including confirming the selection of a venue and
-reviewing preliminary cost estimations. We’ve also already started
-looking ahead to USRSE’27 and beyond. We’re developing a conference
-hosting application process to identify potential future conference
-locations and chairs farther in advance—more on that in coming months.
-Additionally, we discussed our policies on issuing statements related to
-government actions and current events, as well as on the use of AI
-notetakers during our virtual events, which culminated in an official
-recommendation delivered to the Code of Conduct Committee on the latter.
-
-Following the cancellation of our planned January retreat due to a
-combination of weather and illness, the US-RSE Leadership team held two
-half-day virtual planning sessions in February, focused on increasing
-the sustainability of our annual conference and updating our governance
-model to reflect the growing size and responsibilities of our
-organization. We’re following this up with an in-person working session
-at the end of this month, where we’ll meet for two days in Chicago with
-the Executive Director in a concentrated effort to finalize our
-recommendations for governance model updates.
-
-
-
-
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-## 🤝 Organizational Founding Membership 🤝
-
-
-
-
-
-US-RSE envisions a future where Research Software Engineers are
-universally respected for advancing science, technology, and society
-through the transformative power of research software engineering. We’re
-excited to share that the momentum around our Organizational Founding
-Membership continues to grow! See the list below for the current members
-(six more are onboarding at the moment).
-
-Organizations that join **on or before June 30, 2026**, will be
-recognized in perpetuity as founding members. Founding organizations
-will also lock in current membership fees through December 31, 2028.
-Organizational support helps sustain and expand vital community
-offerings, including the annual conference, monthly calls and
-newsletter, job board, working groups, and new resources.
-
-Please reach out to Sandra Gesing at if you are
-interested in becoming an organizational founding member!
-
-### Premier Members
-{% for org in site.data.org-members.premier %}
-
-- [{{ org.name }}]({{ org.url }})
-
-{% endfor %}
-
-### Standard Members
-{% for org in site.data.org-members.standard %}
-
-- [{{ org.name }}]({{ org.url }})
-
-{% endfor %}
-
-### Basic Members
-{% for org in site.data.org-members.basic %}
-
-- [{{ org.name }}]({{ org.url }})
-
-{% endfor %}
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-## 🗞️ Community News 🗞️
-
-
-
-
-
-The US-RSE community is full of talented, brilliant people doing amazing
-work, and every so often, we capture the interactions and collaborations
-that make our community special on video! Here’s a YouTube video of a
-recent **Education & Training Working Group** meeting, where **Andres
-Rios-Tascon** presented his tutorial on Continuous Integration and
-Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) with GitHub Actions.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-> Did you know that we have a community Code of Conduct? Anyone is able
-> to view it in the `#code_of_conduct` Slack channel, under `Files`!
-
-### **Community Calls**
-
-
-
-On March 12th, the US-RSE community got together to discuss **Legacy
-Code: Horrors and Successes**!
-
-We heard stories from Keith, James, Brad, and more about some of the
-projects they’ve inherited and how they dealt with codebases with
-developers in absentia, cryptic comments and functions, and the
-different edge cases that can come up when handling them.
-
-
-
-Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 14, 2026, 12:00PM EST.
-We hope to see you there!
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-## 👀 Interesting Events and Opportunities 👀
-
-
-
-{% assign today = "now" | date: "%Y-%m-%d" %}
-{% for opp in site.data.newsletter-events-opportunities %}
-{% assign expires = opp.expires | date: "%Y-%m-%d" %}
-{% if opp.type == "opportunity" and expires >= today %}
-{% include opportunity-box.html
- title=opp.title
- when=opp.when
- where=opp.where
- preamble=opp.preamble
- links=opp.links
-%}
-{% endif %}
-{% endfor %}
-
-{% for event in site.data.newsletter-events-opportunities %}
-{% assign expires_formatted = event.expires | date: "%Y-%m-%d" %}
-{% if expires_formatted >= today %}
-{% if event.type == "event" %}
-{% include event-box.html
- title=event.title
- when=event.when
- where=event.where
- preamble=event.preamble
- links=event.links
-%}
-{% endif %}
-{% endif %}
-{% endfor %}
-
-Have an event or opportunity you want to promote? Reach out on Slack in
-the `#newsletters` channel!
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-## 📚 Featured Reads, Videos, and Podcasts 📚
-
-
-
-{% assign refs = site.data.newsletter_bib_yml.references
- | where_exp: "r", "r.annote contains 'Read_Status: To Read'" %}
-
-{% assign professional = refs | where: "type", "article-journal" %}
-
-{% if professional.size > 0 %}
-### 📑 Recent Publications
-{% for ref in professional %}
-{% include citation-publication.html ref=ref %}
-{% endfor %}
-{% endif %}
-
-{% assign podcasts = refs | where: "type", "song" %}
-
-{% if podcasts.size > 0 %}
-### 🎧 Podcast Episodes
-{% for ref in podcasts %}
-{% include citation-podcast.html ref=ref %}
-{% endfor %}
-{% endif %}
-
-{% assign other = refs | where: "type", "webpage" %}
-
-{% if other.size > 0 %}
-### 📇 Blog Posts, Videos, & Other Reads
-{% for ref in other %}
-{% include citation.html ref=ref %}
-{% endfor %}
-{% endif %}
-
-Did you read something interesting this week? Want to share your own
-publications in the community? Reach out on Slack in the `#newsletters`
-channel!
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-## 🏃 Get Involved! 🏃
-
-
-
-US-RSE Working Groups:
-
-{% assign wgs = site.data.menus["working-groups"][0].items %}
-
+
+In this issue:
+
+- [1 🤩 Wait a Minute, I’m an
+ RSE, I Know How to Do That!
+ 🤩](#star_struck-wait-a-minute-im-an-rse-i-know-how-to-do-that-star_struck)
+- [2 📣 Mark Your Calendars for
+ USRSE’26! 📣](#mega-mark-your-calendars-for-usrse26-mega)
+- [3 🤝 Organizational Founding
+ Membership
+ 🤝](#handshake-organizational-founding-membership-handshake)
+- [4 🗞️ Community News
+ 🗞️](#newspaper_roll-community-news-newspaper_roll)
+- [5 👀 Interesting Events and
+ Opportunities 👀](#eyes-interesting-events-and-opportunities-eyes)
+- [6 📚 Featured Reads, Videos,
+ and Podcasts 📚](#books-featured-reads-videos-and-podcasts-books)
+- [7 🏃 Get Involved!
+ 🏃](#running-get-involved-running)
+- [8 🧑💼 Recent Job Postings
+ 🧑💼](#office_worker-recent-job-postings-office_worker)
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+## 🤩 Wait a Minute, I’m an RSE, I Know How to Do That! 🤩
+
+
+
+*I know how to do that!*
+
+It is one of the most rewarding thoughts you can have as a research
+software engineer: that moment when you notice a colleague, PI,
+collaborator, or student struggling with a software problem and realize
+you can help.
+
+Not because they are unmotivated. Not because they are bad scientists.
+But because things are not working, not moving quickly enough, or not
+being recognized for what they are: software problems that can be solved
+with the right tools, techniques, and expertise. Maybe the scientist is
+looking toward industry and thinking, “I wish we could move as quickly
+as Google, Facebook, or Microsoft.” Or, more recently, “I wish we could
+figure out how to really use all this LLM stuff.” Ever persistent, the
+scientist keeps chasing their research questions. They want to discover
+the next big thing in their field. They want to make an impact. But
+because their workflow was essentially written in 2012, and because they
+do not have the time, support, or expertise to modernize it, they are
+stuck moving at the pace of 2012.
+
+And as RSEs, we get it! Code can be fragile — and scary. If a new
+student or postdoc touches it, they might break it. If the code breaks,
+so might every paper, grant, and project built on top of it. When was
+the last time it was updated? Months ago? Years ago? So the scientist
+does not touch it. They treat it like a Rube Goldberg machine: they know
+it works, but they no longer remember how. At this point, they are too
+afraid to find out.
+
+As RSEs, we see this…and get excited.
+
+Because we know how to help. 🥹
+
+I first came across the term “RSE” in the wonderfully cute and
+informative 2019 YouTube video, [The Story of the Research
+Engineer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trAfA9VWLTQ), and I instantly
+fell in love with the idea. Here was a name for the squeaky wheel that
+gets the grease: the person who helps scientists get unstuck, move
+faster, and work more sustainably. But then as now, the field was young.
+There was not much consensus about what an RSE was, where they belonged,
+or how institutions should support them.
+
+The term itself emerged in the UK [in
+2012](https://www.software.ac.uk/blog/not-so-brief-history-research-software-engineers-0),
+after a group of researchers and software practitioners began
+formalizing a role that many people were already doing but few
+institutions knew how to recognize. Since then, definitions have been
+proposed, refined, and debated.
+
+Ian Cosden, Chair of the US-RSE Steering Committee and Senior
+Director of Research Software Engineering at Princeton,
+defines the role partly by what it is not. An RSE, he argues, is not
+simply a researcher, not simply a facilitator, and not simply a pure
+software engineer. The role lives in the productive space between those
+identities.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Goth et al. ([2025](https://f1000research.com/articles/13-1429)) offer
+one recent attempt to concretize the foundational competencies and
+responsibilities of an RSE, including software development, building and
+distributing software assets, understanding the research lifecycle, and
+supporting reproducible, sustainable research. [Vanessa Sochat’s
+EasyBuild talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2yV8TNnSw), on the
+other hand, emphasizes just how broad this space can be: among roughly
+400 people surveyed who identified themselves to be working on “research
+software” in some capacity, there were more than *190 unique job
+titles*. That degree of diversity can be both a strength and a
+challenge. It shows how widely research software work appears across
+institutions, but it also explains why the role can be so difficult to
+define, hire for, promote, and reward. Another one of our US-RSE
+members, Dan Katz, proposes a 3-dimensional schematic to isolate the
+Super RSE role who commands “a superset of the responsibilities of the
+traditional RSE role, combining both service and the RSE’s own
+research.”
+
+
+
+
+
+
+By identifying this RSE unicorn, Katz highlights the fact that as we
+define the breadth of the scope of the RSE, we also need to think about
+its potentially necessary boundaries.
+
+In a 2022 [career Q&A in
+*Nature*](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01516-2), Paul
+Richmond predicted that RSEs could become equals in the academic
+environment if they receive proper recognition for their contributions.
+James Schloss, in his [YouTube
+talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2BjZ5hSjHo) highlights some of
+the barriers still standing in the way: the publication economy,
+academic resistance to software engineering best practices, and the
+difficulty of competing with industry salaries for people with similar
+technical expertise. In fact, one of my very first suggestions for
+newsletter topics was to discuss the definition of the title “Research
+Software Engineer” itself, and I was told very firmly to avoid the topic
+as much as possible — not because it was inflammatory, but because it
+remains a particularly sensitive topic. While many are strongly attached
+to the name for its truthiness, just as many others are more concerned
+with defining the tasks, responsibilities, and competencies of the role,
+regardless of what it is called, because funding sources will pay a
+great deal of attention to those details.
+
+But friends, there is hope. 🌱
+
+Just as a small group of concerned scientists and software practitioners
+began with an idea, a conversation, and a Google Group, we can continue
+making the role visible at our own institutions. This can be through
+formal titles, clearer career paths, better credit, stronger communities
+of practice, or simply naming the work when we see it as we help
+research software engineering become easier to recognize and harder to
+ignore. This week, celebrate yourself by encouraging your colleagues,
+coworkers, PIs, and students to **make this role visible**. Look around.
+We are once again watching technology change the fabric of research
+itself. Rigorous science, and the software that powers it, cannot afford
+to be left behind. Now more than ever, research needs talented, driven,
+curious technology specialists who can ask new questions, solve
+impossible bugs, push compute clusters to their limits, and preserve the
+code — and the science — that so many people depend on.
+
+Our Executive Director had this to say about the significance of this exceptional milestone:
+
+> “Reaching more than 4,000 members is not just a milestone in numbers - it reflects a growing community of people who care deeply about advancing research through software, collaboration, and support for one another. As Executive Director, I am incredibly grateful to be part of this community and inspired every day by the generosity, expertise, and passion our members bring to US-RSE. Thank you for helping build a place where research software engineers can truly belong.” [Sandra](https://us-rse.org/about/staff/).
+
+This month, we thank the scrappy and passionate group of researchers who
+helped crystallize the idea of the Research Software Engineer, [one
+quiet afternoon in Oxford, UK, in
+2012](https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/65195747/DR2012_12_1_.pdf).
+And the next time you notice a colleague struggling with a technical
+problem, be the RSE on their shoulder. Gently remind them:
+
+*Hey, I know how to do that.*
+
+> You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter
+> than you think. A. A. Milne, *Winnie the Pooh*
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+## 📣 Mark Your Calendars for USRSE’26! 📣
+
+
+
+Save the date for USRSE’26: **Advancing Science in the Age of AI**
+
+
+
+
+
+
+We’re thrilled to announce that USRSE’26 will be held at the San Jose
+Marriott from October 19-21, 2026 in San Jose, California, with the
+theme **“Advancing Science in the Age of AI”.**
+
+Chairs have been appointed to lead each of the core committees for
+USRSE’26. These chairs have begun assembling sub‑teams from the pool of
+volunteers who expressed interest in supporting the respective areas. If
+you were not selected for a chair position, please stay tuned, as chairs
+reach out for volunteers for these committee positions.
+
+**What’s next?**
+
+- **Call for Proposals:** Submit your work via papers, short talks,
+ BoFs, workshops, or posters. [View
+ More](https://us-rse.org/usrse26/participate/)
+- **Call for Reviewers:** Play a key role in creating a dynamic and
+ varied technical program that will appeal to conference attendees from
+ all RSE backgrounds. [Apply to
+ Review](https://forms.gle/hDGsK52sJFqUA2MA7)
+- **Committee Formation:** Sub‑teams will be formed shortly; be on the
+ lookout for an email from a perspective committee chair with details.
+- **Stay Informed:** Regular updates will be posted at
+ [us-rse.org/usrse26](https://us-rse.org/usrse26). Please bookmark the
+ page and check back frequently for the latest information.
+
+Your continued involvement is essential to the success of USRSE’26. We
+look forward to collaborating with you to deliver a vibrant, inclusive,
+and impactful conference.
+
+#### 📧 Join Our Mailing List 📧
+
+Want to stay updated on all things US-RSE? Join our mailing list to
+receive direct news about all US-RSE conferences. Sign up
+[here](https://groups.google.com/a/us-rse.org/g/usrse-conference).
+
+#### 💬 Have Questions? 💬
+
+If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the organizers at
+usrse26-conference@us-rse.org.
+
+#### 📅 Save the Date 📅
+
+More details about the conference program, registration, and travel
+information will be coming your way in the months ahead. Stay tuned at
+[us-rse.org/usrse26](https://us-rse.org/usrse26)!
+
+We’re looking forward to seeing you all in **San Jose**!
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+## 🤝 Organizational Founding Membership 🤝
+
+
+
+
+
+US-RSE envisions a future where Research Software Engineers are
+universally respected for advancing science, technology, and society
+through the transformative power of research software engineering. We’re
+excited to share that the momentum around our Organizational Founding
+Membership continues to grow! See the list below for the current members
+(six more are onboarding at the moment).
+
+Organizations that join **on or before June 30, 2026**, will be
+recognized in perpetuity as founding members. Founding organizations
+will also lock in current membership fees through December 31, 2028.
+Organizational support helps sustain and expand vital community
+offerings, including the annual conference, monthly calls and
+newsletter, job board, working groups, and new resources.
+
+Please reach out to Sandra Gesing at if you are
+interested in becoming an organizational founding member!
+
+### Premier Members
+{% for org in site.data.org-members.premier %}
+
+- [{{ org.name }}]({{ org.url }})
+
+{% endfor %}
+
+### Standard Members
+{% for org in site.data.org-members.standard %}
+
+- [{{ org.name }}]({{ org.url }})
+
+{% endfor %}
+
+- [Flatiron Institute](https://www.simonsfoundation.org/flatiron/)
+
+### Basic Members
+{% for org in site.data.org-members.basic %}
+
+- [{{ org.name }}]({{ org.url }})
+
+{% endfor %}
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+## 🗞️ Community News 🗞️
+
+
+
+
+
+### **Community Shoutouts**
+
+🥳 Congratulations to members of the RSE community recognized with
+[Stanford Data Science
+(CORES)](https://datascience.stanford.edu/cores/awards) awards!
+
+- Malcolm Barrett & Alex Koufos : OpenSource@Stanford Community Prize
+- Ellianna Abrahams: Open Science Innovator Prize
+
+These awards recognize individuals who have made significant
+contributions to open science and data science, and we’re thrilled to
+see members of our community being honored for their impactful work!
+
+Additionally, The RAPTOR team from Argonne National Laboratory and
+collaborating institutions recently won the SC25 Best Reproducibility
+Advancement Award, using Chameleon Cloud to make their artifact fully
+reproducible. This marks the second consecutive year a Chameleon user
+has taken home this honor!
+
+Read the announcement
+[here](https://blog.chameleoncloud.org/posts/sc25-best-reproducibility-advancement-award/).
+
+### RSE’s with a New York State of Mind… 🗽
+
+The NYC Regional Group recently met up for their inaugural in-person
+hangout! Special thanks to Roger Ferger for spearheading the event!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+As an added bonus, the group also now has a dedicated page on the US-RSE
+website! Check it out [here](https://us-rse.org/ag/rg-nyc/) to learn
+more about the group and how to get involved.
+
+> Did you know that we have a community Code of Conduct? Anyone is able
+> to view it in the `#code_of_conduct` Slack channel, under `Files`!
+
+### **Community Calls**
+
+
+
+
+
+Our next meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 12, 2026, 12:00PM EST. We
+hope to see you there!
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+## 👀 Interesting Events and Opportunities 👀
+
+
+
+{% assign today = "now" | date: "%Y-%m-%d" %}
+{% for opp in site.data.newsletter-events-opportunities %}
+{% assign expires = opp.expires | date: "%Y-%m-%d" %}
+{% if opp.type == "opportunity" and expires >= today %}
+{% include opportunity-box.html
+ title=opp.title
+ when=opp.when
+ where=opp.where
+ preamble=opp.preamble
+ links=opp.links
+%}
+{% endif %}
+{% endfor %}
+
+{% for event in site.data.newsletter-events-opportunities %}
+{% assign expires_formatted = event.expires | date: "%Y-%m-%d" %}
+{% if expires_formatted >= today %}
+{% if event.type == "event" %}
+{% include event-box.html
+ title=event.title
+ when=event.when
+ where=event.where
+ preamble=event.preamble
+ links=event.links
+%}
+{% endif %}
+{% endif %}
+{% endfor %}
+
+Have an event or opportunity you want to promote? Reach out on Slack in
+the `#newsletters` channel!
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+## 📚 Featured Reads, Videos, and Podcasts 📚
+
+
+
+{% assign refs = site.data.newsletter_bib_yml.references
+ | where_exp: "r", "r.annote contains 'Read_Status: To Read'" %}
+
+{% assign professional = refs | where: "type", "article-journal" %}
+
+{% if professional.size > 0 %}
+### 📑 Publications
+{% for ref in professional %}
+{% include citation-publication.html ref=ref %}
+{% endfor %}
+{% endif %}
+
+{% assign podcasts = refs | where: "type", "motion_picture" %}
+
+{% if podcasts.size > 0 %}
+### 🎧 Podcast Episodes
+{% for ref in podcasts %}
+{% include citation-podcast.html ref=ref %}
+{% endfor %}
+{% endif %}
+
+{% assign other = refs | where: "type", "webpage" %}
+
+{% if other.size > 0 %}
+### 📇 Blog Posts, Videos, & Other Reads
+{% for ref in other %}
+{% include citation.html ref=ref %}
+{% endfor %}
+{% endif %}
+
+Did you read something interesting this week? Want to share your own
+publications in the community? Reach out on Slack in the `#newsletters`
+channel!
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+## 🏃 Get Involved! 🏃
+
+
+
+US-RSE Working Groups:
+
+{% assign wgs = site.data.menus["working-groups"][0].items %}
+
+
We’re thrilled to announce that USRSE’26 will be held at the San Jose
Marriott from October 19-21, 2026 in San Jose, California, with the
theme **"Advancing Science in the Age of AI".**
diff --git a/_posts/newsletters/quarto/_headline.md b/_posts/newsletters/quarto/_headline.md
index c268d2fb6..d97c64bab 100644
--- a/_posts/newsletters/quarto/_headline.md
+++ b/_posts/newsletters/quarto/_headline.md
@@ -1,69 +1,62 @@
-## 🔔 Just Slack Me, Whenever! 🔔
+## 🤩 Wait a Minute, I'm an RSE, I Know How to Do That! 🤩
-In 2012, software engineer Stewart Butterfield was hard at work on what he believed to
-be the next big thing in MMORPGs. The game, called "Glitch," ended up being a commercial flop,
-and Butterfield and his team needed to pivot quickly to make the most of the 6 million dollars
-they had left from investor Ben Horowitz. Instead of throwing in the towel, Butterfield
-called Horowitz on the phone and proposed a new idea. Throughout the development process,
-Butterfield told Horowitz, the team of engineers had developed a novel instant messaging
-system to facilitate communication in-game, and in the process of [eating their own dog food](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food),
-discovered that the system worked really well for managing their work communications, too.
-Butterfield proposed that their company, then called Tiny Speck, pivot to focus on building a new product
-based on this instant messaging system. The result was the creation of Slack, which has since become one
-of the most popular communication platforms in the world.
-
-Today, Slack powers communication and collaboration for millions of users and businesses, and has
-transformed the way teams collaborate and communicate. At US-RSE, we of course use Slack to manage
-internal communications between leadership teams, but more importantly, it has grown to become
-the virtual landing page for our community. At present, there are over 140 individual channels dating
-back to 2018, with over 3100 unique member accounts participating in the conversation. Some
-days see over 500 messages going back and forth between members and channels:
+*I know how to do that!*
-
-
-
+It is one of the most rewarding thoughts you can have as a research software engineer: that moment when you notice a colleague, PI, collaborator, or student struggling with a software problem and realize you can help.
-One unique feature of Slack is the ability to create channels, which act as virtual rooms
-dedicated to specific topics, projects, or interests. These channels can be private or public,
-allowing teams to organize conversations by priority, relevance, and interest. At US-RSE,
-we also have meta-grouping channels, such as "Working Groups," (`#wg-`) and "Regional Groups,"
-(`#rg-`), which serve as hubs for specific communities within our larger organization. For example,
-the `#wg-code-review` and `wg-diversity-equity-inclusion` channels are spaces for members to discuss
-and collaborate on code review practices and DEI initiatives, respectively. The `#rg-nyc` channel
-serves as a hub for members located in and around the greater New York City area, where they plan
-get-togethers and other in-person events. Participating in public channels is a great way to stay
-informed about what's going on in the community, and importantly, it allows everyone in the Slack
-channel to follow the conversation and chime in when they have something to contribute. This helps
-us all, "[learn with the garage door open](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/About_these_notes?stackedNotes=z21cgR9K3UcQ5a7yPsj2RUim3oM2TzdBByZu)," increasing the accessibility of our conversations and the
-impact of our work.
+Not because they are unmotivated. Not because they are bad scientists. But because things are not working, not moving quickly enough, or not being recognized for what they are: software problems that can be solved with the right tools, techniques, and expertise. Maybe the scientist is looking toward industry and thinking, "I wish we could move as quickly as Google, Facebook, or Microsoft." Or, more recently, "I wish we could figure out how to really use all this LLM stuff." Ever persistent, the scientist keeps chasing their research questions. They want to discover the next big thing in their field. They want to make an impact. But because their workflow was essentially written in 2012, and because they do not have the time, support, or expertise to modernize it, they are stuck moving at the pace of 2012.
-
-
-
+And as RSEs, we get it! Code can be fragile — and scary. If a new student or postdoc touches it, they might break it. If the code breaks, so might every paper, grant, and project built on top of it. When was the last time it was updated? Months ago? Years ago? So the scientist does not touch it. They treat it like a Rube Goldberg machine: they know it works, but they no longer remember how. At this point, they are too afraid to find out.
+
+As RSEs, we see this...and get excited.
-It may be obvious that the `#general` channel has the most messages, but did you know that
-in a one-year span, some of the most active channels include `#random`, `#events`, and `#wg-ux`?
-The most popular language-specific channel in the Slack was, of course, `#python`, and the most
-active regional group channel was `#rg-north-carolina`.
+Because we know how to help. 🥹
+
+I first came across the term "RSE" in the wonderfully cute and informative 2019 YouTube video, [The Story of the Research Engineer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trAfA9VWLTQ), and I instantly fell in love with the idea. Here was a name for the squeaky wheel that gets the grease: the person who helps scientists get unstuck, move faster, and work more sustainably. But then as now, the field was young. There was not much consensus about what an RSE was, where they belonged, or how institutions should support them.
+
+The term itself emerged in the UK [in 2012](https://www.software.ac.uk/blog/not-so-brief-history-research-software-engineers-0), after a group of researchers and software practitioners began formalizing a role that many people were already doing but few institutions knew how to recognize. Since then, definitions have been proposed, refined, and debated.
+
+Ian Cosden, one of our newsletter editors and Director of *Research Software Engineering for Computational & Data Science* at Princeton, defines the role partly by what it is not. An RSE, he argues, is not simply a researcher, not simply a facilitator, and not simply a pure software engineer. The role lives in the productive space between those identities.
-
+
+
+
-And while we as RSEs may still be evaluating AI for its usefulness in our work, Slack's built-in AI
-summarization tool tells us that there are a wide array of conversations happening in our Slack,
-from conference planning, to project management, to hiring and funding announcements.
+Goth et al. ([2025](https://f1000research.com/articles/13-1429)) offer one recent attempt to concretize the foundational competencies and responsibilities of an RSE, including software development, building and distributing software assets, understanding the research lifecycle, and supporting reproducible, sustainable research. [Vanessa Sochat's EasyBuild talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2yV8TNnSw), on the other hand, emphasizes just how broad this space can be: among roughly 400 people surveyed who identified themselves to be working on "research software" in some capacity, there were more than *190 unique job titles*. That degree of diversity can be both a strength and a challenge. It shows how widely research software work appears across institutions, but it also explains why the role can be so difficult to define, hire for, promote, and reward. Another one of our US-RSE members, Dan Katz, proposes a 3-dimensional schematic
+to isolate the Super RSE role who commands "a superset of the responsibilities of the traditional RSE role, combining both service and the RSE’s own research."
-
+
-If you haven't already, we encourage you to join our Slack and get involved in the conversation. It's
-a great way to stay informed about what's going on in the community, connect with other members, and
-contribute to the ongoing work of US-RSE. You can get onto our Slack by joining US-RSE free, [here](https://us-rse.org/join/).
+By identifying this RSE unicorn, Katz highlights the fact that as we define
+the breadth of the scope of the RSE, we also need to think about its
+potentially necessary boundaries.
+
+In a 2022 [career Q&A in *Nature*](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01516-2), Paul Richmond predicted that RSEs could become equals in the academic environment if they receive proper recognition for their contributions. James Schloss, in his [YouTube talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2BjZ5hSjHo) highlights some of the barriers still standing in the way: the publication economy, academic resistance to software engineering best practices, and the difficulty of competing with industry salaries for people with similar technical expertise. In fact, one of my very first suggestions for newsletter topics was to discuss the definition of the title "Research Software Engineer" itself, and I was told very firmly to avoid the topic as much as possible — not because it was inflammatory, but because it remains a particularly sensitive topic. While many are strongly attached to the name for its truthiness, just as many others are more concerned with defining the tasks, responsibilities, and competencies of the role, regardless of what it is called, because funding sources will pay a great deal of attention to those details.
+
+But friends, there is hope. 🌱
+
+Just as a small group of concerned scientists and software practitioners began with an idea, a conversation, and a Google Group, we can continue making the role visible at our own institutions. This can be through formal titles, clearer career paths, better credit, stronger communities of practice, or simply naming the work when we see it as we help research software engineering become easier to recognize and harder to ignore. This week, celebrate yourself by encouraging your colleagues, coworkers, PIs, and students to **make this role visible**. Look around. We are once again watching technology change the fabric of research itself. Rigorous science, and the software that powers it, cannot afford to be left behind. Now more than ever, research needs talented, driven, curious technology specialists who can ask new questions, solve impossible bugs, push compute clusters to their limits, and preserve the code — and the science — that so many people depend on.
+
+Our Executive Director had this to say about the importance of this community:
+
+"Reaching more than 4,000 members is not just a milestone in numbers - it reflects a growing
+community of people who care deeply about advancing research through software, collaboration, and
+support for one another. As Executive Director, I am incredibly grateful to be part of this community
+and inspired every day by the generosity, expertise, and passion our members bring to US-RSE. Thank
+you for helping build a place where research software engineers can truly belong."
+
+> [Sandra](https://us-rse.org/about/staff/)
+
+This month, we thank the scrappy and passionate group of researchers who helped crystallize the idea of the Research Software Engineer, [one quiet afternoon in Oxford, UK, in 2012](https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/65195747/DR2012_12_1_.pdf). And the next time you notice a colleague struggling with a technical problem, be the RSE on their shoulder. Gently remind them:
+
+*Hey, I know how to do that.*
-See you on Slack!
+> You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. A. A. Milne, *Winnie the Pooh*
-------------
\ No newline at end of file
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/_posts/newsletters/quarto/_news.md b/_posts/newsletters/quarto/_news.md
index b5221aae4..7ca41c102 100644
--- a/_posts/newsletters/quarto/_news.md
+++ b/_posts/newsletters/quarto/_news.md
@@ -4,17 +4,34 @@
-The US-RSE community is full of talented, brilliant people doing amazing work, and
-every so often, we capture the interactions and collaborations that make our community
-special on video! Here's a YouTube video of a recent **Education \& Training Working Group**
-meeting, where **Andres Rios-Tascon** presented his tutorial on
-Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) with GitHub Actions.
+### **Community Shoutouts**
-
-
-
+🥳 Congratulations to members of the RSE community recognized with [Stanford Data Science (CORES)](https://datascience.stanford.edu/cores/awards) awards!
+- Malcolm Barrett & Alex Koufos : OpenSource@Stanford Community Prize
+- Ellianna Abrahams: Open Science Innovator Prize
+These awards recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to open science and
+data science, and we're thrilled to see members of our community being honored for their impactful
+work!
+
+Additionally, The RAPTOR team from Argonne National Laboratory and collaborating
+institutions recently won the SC25 Best Reproducibility Advancement Award, using
+Chameleon Cloud to make their artifact fully reproducible. This marks the second
+consecutive year a Chameleon user has taken home this honor!
+
+Read the announcement [here](https://blog.chameleoncloud.org/posts/sc25-best-reproducibility-advancement-award/).
+
+### RSE's with a New York State of Mind... 🗽
+
+The NYC Regional Group recently met up for their inaugural
+in-person hangout! Special thanks to Roger Ferger for spearheading the event!
+
+
+
+
+
+As an added bonus, the group also now has a dedicated page on the US-RSE website! Check it out [here](https://us-rse.org/ag/rg-nyc/) to learn more about the group and how to get involved.
> Did you know that we have a community Code of Conduct? Anyone is able to view it in the
`#code_of_conduct` Slack channel, under `Files`!
@@ -22,11 +39,6 @@ Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) with GitHub Actions.
### **Community Calls**
-
-On March 12th, the US-RSE community got together to discuss **Legacy Code: Horrors and Successes**!
-
-We heard stories from Keith, James, Brad, and more about some of the projects they've inherited and how they dealt with codebases with developers in absentia, cryptic comments and functions, and the different edge cases that can come up when handling them.
-
-
-In March, I attended Capitol Hill coffee hours with Senator Dick Durbin
-and Senator Tammy Duckworth, where I had the opportunity to introduce
-the mission and growing impact of the US Research Software Engineer
-(US-RSE) Association and take an important step toward raising awareness
-of the critical role of research software in advancing U.S. science. In
-addition, I met with staff from Senator Alex Padilla for an in-depth
-discussion; they expressed strong interest and requested follow-up
-materials — both quantitative and qualitative data and insights — to
-better understand the needs and contributions of the RSE community.
-While these meetings may appear inconsequential, they’re seedlings for
-longer-term engagement between the RSE community and key stakeholders in
-Washington, DC, and we are encouraged by the fact that our message is
-starting to reach key audiences in government.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-## 🛞 Steering Committee Updates 🛞
-
-
-
-
-
-It’s been a while since you’ve heard from us in the newsletter, but the
-Steering Committee has been hard at work! Together with our Executive
-Director, we’ve have done considerable work to support planning of the
-USRSE’26 conference, including confirming the selection of a venue and
-reviewing preliminary cost estimations. We’ve also already started
-looking ahead to USRSE’27 and beyond. We’re developing a conference
-hosting application process to identify potential future conference
-locations and chairs farther in advance—more on that in coming months.
-Additionally, we discussed our policies on issuing statements related to
-government actions and current events, as well as on the use of AI
-notetakers during our virtual events, which culminated in an official
-recommendation delivered to the Code of Conduct Committee on the latter.
-
-Following the cancellation of our planned January retreat due to a
-combination of weather and illness, the US-RSE Leadership team held two
-half-day virtual planning sessions in February, focused on increasing
-the sustainability of our annual conference and updating our governance
-model to reflect the growing size and responsibilities of our
-organization. We’re following this up with an in-person working session
-at the end of this month, where we’ll meet for two days in Chicago with
-the Executive Director in a concentrated effort to finalize our
-recommendations for governance model updates.
-
-
-
-
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
## 🤝 Organizational Founding Membership 🤝
@@ -291,6 +297,7 @@ interested in becoming an organizational founding member!
{% for org in site.data.org-members.standard %}
- [{{ org.name }}]({{ org.url }})
+- [Flatiron Institute](https://www.simonsfoundation.org/flatiron/)
{% endfor %}
@@ -309,16 +316,41 @@ interested in becoming an organizational founding member!
-The US-RSE community is full of talented, brilliant people doing amazing
-work, and every so often, we capture the interactions and collaborations
-that make our community special on video! Here’s a YouTube video of a
-recent **Education & Training Working Group** meeting, where **Andres
-Rios-Tascon** presented his tutorial on Continuous Integration and
-Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) with GitHub Actions.
+### **Community Shoutouts**
+
+🥳 Congratulations to members of the RSE community recognized with
+[Stanford Data Science
+(CORES)](https://datascience.stanford.edu/cores/awards) awards!
+
+- Malcolm Barrett & Alex Koufos : OpenSource@Stanford Community Prize
+- Ellianna Abrahams: Open Science Innovator Prize
-
-
-
+These awards recognize individuals who have made significant
+contributions to open science and data science, and we’re thrilled to
+see members of our community being honored for their impactful work!
+
+Additionally, The RAPTOR team from Argonne National Laboratory and
+collaborating institutions recently won the SC25 Best Reproducibility
+Advancement Award, using Chameleon Cloud to make their artifact fully
+reproducible. This marks the second consecutive year a Chameleon user
+has taken home this honor!
+
+Read the announcement
+[here](https://blog.chameleoncloud.org/posts/sc25-best-reproducibility-advancement-award/).
+
+### RSE’s with a New York State of Mind… 🗽
+
+The NYC Regional Group recently met up for their inaugural in-person
+hangout! Special thanks to Roger Ferger for spearheading the event!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+As an added bonus, the group also now has a dedicated page on the US-RSE
+website! Check it out [here](https://us-rse.org/ag/rg-nyc/) to learn
+more about the group and how to get involved.
> Did you know that we have a community Code of Conduct? Anyone is able
> to view it in the `#code_of_conduct` Slack channel, under `Files`!
@@ -327,14 +359,6 @@ Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) with GitHub Actions.
-On March 12th, the US-RSE community got together to discuss **Legacy
-Code: Horrors and Successes**!
-
-We heard stories from Keith, James, Brad, and more about some of the
-projects they’ve inherited and how they dealt with codebases with
-developers in absentia, cryptic comments and functions, and the
-different edge cases that can come up when handling them.
-
-Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 14, 2026, 12:00PM EST.
-We hope to see you there!
+Our next meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 12, 2026, 12:00PM EST. We
+hope to see you there!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -404,7 +428,7 @@ the `#newsletters` channel!
{% endfor %}
{% endif %}
-{% assign podcasts = refs | where: "type", "song" %}
+{% assign podcasts = refs | where: "type", "motion_picture" %}
{% if podcasts.size > 0 %}
### 🎧 Podcast Episodes
diff --git a/assets/img/newsletter-202605/20260511_182844.jpg b/assets/img/newsletter-202605/20260511_182844.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9b700ffed
Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/newsletter-202605/20260511_182844.jpg differ
diff --git a/assets/img/newsletter-202605/us-rse_4k_members.png b/assets/img/newsletter-202605/us-rse_4k_members.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..099f7da63
Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/newsletter-202605/us-rse_4k_members.png differ
diff --git a/assets/img/newsletter-202605/usrse26-logo_6.svg b/assets/img/newsletter-202605/usrse26-logo_6.svg
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dc9bd791c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assets/img/newsletter-202605/usrse26-logo_6.svg
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+
+
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
-
+🥳 Congratulations to members of the RSE community recognized with [Stanford Data Science (CORES)](https://datascience.stanford.edu/cores/awards) awards!
+- Malcolm Barrett & Alex Koufos : OpenSource@Stanford Community Prize
+- Ellianna Abrahams: Open Science Innovator Prize
+These awards recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to open science and
+data science, and we're thrilled to see members of our community being honored for their impactful
+work!
+
+Additionally, The RAPTOR team from Argonne National Laboratory and collaborating
+institutions recently won the SC25 Best Reproducibility Advancement Award, using
+Chameleon Cloud to make their artifact fully reproducible. This marks the second
+consecutive year a Chameleon user has taken home this honor!
+
+Read the announcement [here](https://blog.chameleoncloud.org/posts/sc25-best-reproducibility-advancement-award/).
+
+### RSE's with a New York State of Mind... 🗽
+
+The NYC Regional Group recently met up for their inaugural
+in-person hangout! Special thanks to Roger Ferger for spearheading the event!
+
+
-
-
-