Create sourcing-projects-for-open-source-internships.md

sourcing-projects-for-open-source-internships.md

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+---
+tags:
+  - Education & Skills
+  - Working with Tech Transfer / External Partners
+---
+# Sourcing Projects for Open Source Internships
+
+## Pattern Summary
+
+Build a sustainable pipeline of open source internship projects through active outreach to faculty, researchers, external partners and/or internal project development.
+
+## Problem / Challenge
+
+OSPOs running internship programs need a steady supply of suitable projects for students to work on. An insufficient project pipeline constrains the program's reach and impact.
+
+Faculty and researchers who could benefit from open source intern support may be unaware that the program exists or unclear on what kinds of projects are a good fit.
+
+External partners from the open source ecosystem or industry may require relationship-building over time before they are in a position to offer suitable project opportunities.
+
+## Context
+
+A university with an established or emerging OSPO.
+
+The OSPO is running or planning to run a structured open source internship or student worker program, either on a rolling semester basis or as a dedicated summer program.
+
+The program matches students to projects, which may be led by internal faculty or researchers, generated internally by the OSPO, or sourced from external open source organisations or industry partners.
+
+OSPO staff time and resources are limited.
+
+## Forces
+
+Not all projects that are submitted or proposed are a good fit. Projects need to be scoped appropriately for the internship timeframe and the skills level of available students.
+
+Faculty and researchers are more likely to engage with the program if they understand clearly what it involves and what they would be expected to contribute as a project mentor.
+
+## Solution
+
+Source projects for open source internships in a number of ways, including open calls for proposals; outreach activities; internal project development; and external partnerships.
+
+### Issue an open call for project proposals
+
+Publish a standing or periodic open call for project proposals on the OSPO website and promote it through the OSPO newsletter or mailing list. The call should include:
+
+* A brief description of what the program offers and what participation as a project mentor involves.
+* Guidance on what makes a project a good fit including the kinds of tasks, scope and timelines that work well within the internship structure.
+* Clear information on mentor eligibility, for example, whether mentors need to be a maintainer or core contributor of an open source project; and if industry participants, faculty, staff, or senior students are eligible to apply.
+* An outline of the minimum time commitment expected of mentors such as regular synchronous meetings with students or availability for asynchronous communication during working hours.
+* A simple application process e.g., a short online form.
+
+### Promote the call using the university’s communication channels
+
+Share information through the OSPO's contacts and their communication channels including:
+
+* Faculty and researcher mailing lists and department newsletters.
+* Campus research networks and institutes.
+* Complementary programs, for example, undergraduate research schemes or computer science courses whose networks overlap with potential project mentors.
+
+### Outreach Activities
+
+Direct, face-to-face outreach by OSPO staff offers opportunities to reach new audiences, including:
+
+* Faculty and researchers at departmental seminars, research group meetings and campus events.
+* Individual researchers working on software-intensive projects with open source potential.
+* Information sessions where potential mentors can learn about the program, ask questions and hear from previous participants.
+
+### Develop internal projects
+
+Internally generated projects, developed by the OSPO itself, also offer a source of work that can be scoped and timed to suit the internship structure.
+
+Internal projects may include:
+
+* OSPO infrastructure or tooling work.
+* Projects that address identified needs within the university research community.
+* Projects aligned with the OSPO's own strategic priorities such as open science, research software sustainability or community engagement.
+
+Internal projects also give the program flexibility to respond to short-term or opportunistic funding without being dependent on external partner availability.
+
+### Cultivate external partnerships
+
+Partnerships with industry organisations; open source communities and foundations; and other external bodies can provide projects, co-funding, and mentorship opportunities that extend beyond internal opportunities. External partnerships typically require sustained relationship-building over time.
+
+Approaches include:
+
+* Identifying organisations whose open source work aligns with student skills and interests; and initiating conversations about potential collaboration.
+* Maintaining contact with conference sponsors, open source community members and other contacts who have expressed interest in working with students.
+* Exploring externally managed programs, such as [Google Summer of Code](https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/), [Code for GovTech](https://app.codeforgovtech.in/) or similar initiatives that provide their own project pipeline and recruitment infrastructure.
+
+## Resulting Context
+
+The program maintains a pipeline of suitable projects that supports consistent intern recruitment across successive cohorts.
+
+Faculty, researchers and external partners develop a clearer understanding of what the program offers and the level of involvement required of project mentors.
+
+### Additional Learning from The George Washington University Open Source Program Office
+
+We source projects through a combination of internal development and external partnerships.
+
+Our partnership with Open Teams emerged from a sustained relationship built through conference sponsorship and ongoing engagement. The placement that resulted was directly enabled by that relationship rather than by any formal call for proposals.
+
+### Additional Learning from Georgia Tech Open Source Program Office
+
+We source projects for the Virtual Summer Internship Program (VSIP) through outreach to both industry partners and faculty across the institute. Mentors can include industry participants, faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers or senior students.
+
+Information sessions that include lightning talks from participating organisations have been effective in building awareness of the program among potential project mentors and partners as well as among prospective student applicants.
+
+Our mentoring guidelines set out clearly who can propose a project and what is involved. Mentors must be a primary maintainer or core contributor of an open source project or a project that can be released as open source by the end of the program. They are expected to commit one to two hours per week for synchronous meetings with students and to be available asynchronously via Slack, email or Discord during students' working hours.
+
+We’ve also used learning from our monthly meet-ups to document some general suggestions for mentors who participate in the program.
+
+### Additional Learning from Syracuse University Open Source Program Office
+
+We source projects from a combination of internal OSPO priorities and faculty proposals. Some projects are internal to the OSPO or initiated at the direction of university leadership. The rest come through a rolling open call for proposals hosted on our website via a Google form.
+
+We don’t currently conduct extensive active recruitment of project partners, in part because our funding limits the number of interns we can place but as the program grows we expect to move towards more proactive outreach to identify suitable projects.
+
+### Additional Learning from UW-Madison Open Source Program Office
+
+We issue a call for proposals when we are looking for new projects and distribute it through email lists, newsletters and campus networks. Our director is also active in identifying potential projects through face-to-face conversations with researchers.
+
+We also promote the internship program at career fairs on campus where we collect contact details from both interested students and potential project mentors.
+
+We have also begun working with project mentors to explore sub-award arrangements within research grant proposals so that intern funding can be built into grants from the outset rather than sourced separately after a grant is awarded.
+
+## Known Instances
+
+* [CMU Open Source Program Office, Carnegie Mellon University](https://www.library.cmu.edu/services/ospo)
+* [GW Open Source Program Office, The George Washington University](https://ospo.gwu.edu/)
+* [Georgia Tech Open Source Program Office, Georgia Institute of Technology](https://ospo.cc.gatech.edu/)
+* [Open Source with SLU, Saint Louis University](https://oss-slu.github.io/)
+* [Syracuse University Open Source Program Office](https://opensource.syracuse.edu/)
+* [UW-Madison Open Source Program Office](https://ospo.wisc.edu/)
+* [Vermont Research Open Source Program Office (VERSO), University of Vermont](https://verso-uvm.github.io/ORCA/)
+
+## References
+
+* [A Guide for Open Source Maintainers: Engaging Students Effectively](https://github.com/gt-ospo/oss-student-resources/blob/main/tips-for-maintainers.md) - A suggestion document for project mentors created by the Georgia Tech OSPO
+* [GW Open Source Intern Opportunities](https://github.com/gt-ospo/oss-student-resources/blob/main/tips-for-maintainers.md)
+* [Georgia Tech OSPO Virtual Summer Internship Program](https://ospo.cc.gatech.edu/vsip/)
+* [Georgia Tech OSPO Summer Internship Information Session](https://mediaspace.gatech.edu/media/Georgia+Tech+OSPO+Summer+Internship+-+Informational+Meeting+-+February+27th%2C+2024/1_x91gms33)
+* [Georgia Tech VSIP Mentoring Guidelines](https://ospo.cc.gatech.edu/vsip-mentoring/)
+* [University of Wisconsin-Madison OSPO Internship Program](https://ospo.wisc.edu/internship-program/)
+
+## Related Patterns
+
+* [Advertise for Open Source Interns]
+* [Assessing Students on Open Source Internship Programs](./patterns/assessing-students-on-open-source-internship-programs/)
+* [Onboarding Graduate Leads for Open Source Internship Programs](./onboarding-graduate-leads-for-open-source-internship-programs/)
+* [Onboarding Students for Open Source Internship Programs](./onboarding-students-for-open-source-internship-programs/)
+* [Open Research Community Accelerator](./open-research-community-accelerator/)
+* [Open Source Capstone Course](./open-source-capstone-course/)
+* [Streamlining Recruitment for Open Source Internships][.
+* [Summer Internship Program](./summer-internship-program/)
+
+## Contributors & Acknowledgement
+
+* Bethany Philbrick (University of Wisconsin-Madison), <https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0872-5194>
+* Ciara Flanagan (CURIOSS), <https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3153-7673>
+* David Lippert (George Washington University), <https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6444-9595>
+* Jeffrey Young (Georgia Institute of Technology), <https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9841-405>
+* Will Gearty (Syracuse University), <https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0076-3262>
+
+**A note on AI use:**  In addition to working from Deep Dive transcripts, capturing learning from our community discussions and other patterns from our members, this pattern was drafted with the help of AI. As a small organization, tools like this help us turn rich conversations into written resources without losing the ideas along the way. As always, there were plenty of human eyes reviewing, editing and improving the content before this pattern made it to publication. Thanks go to our community for the insights. If you do spot any errors, please let us know so we can correct them!