Since 2020 the Sloan Foundation has been supporting the establishment of Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) within universities as a strategy to institutionalize support for open source software in the research enterprise. In 2023, Sloan provided two years of funding to six institutions, including George Washington University, to establish OSPOs, to launch a set of pilot activities to determine the most promising strategies for supporting open source software development on their respective campuses, and to develop a clear vision for a long-term institutional support ecosystem for open source. This grant provides an additional two years of support to the George Washington University OSPO, co-lead by an administrator (Geneva Henry, Dean of Libraries and Academic Innovation and Vice Provost for Information Technology) and a faculty director (Lorena Barba, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) to build on early successes and bridge to independent sustainability beyond Sloan funding. 

This grant provides three years of support to Science Friday, the only regular weekly, two-hour slot on public radio devoted to all things science — high quality, fact-checked science.  Science Friday’s Sloan-supported programming targets the fertile intersection between science and the arts and has resulted in a recurring feature called SciArts that brings the two cultures closer via live interviews and call?ins, as well as podcasts, special events and multimedia blogs. Award?winning host Ira Flatow and new co-host Flora Lichtman have made the show a magnet for filmmakers, playwrights, authors, musicians, sculptors, painters and digital artists who engage with science.  Grant funds support the production of 30 new SciArt segments a year, or 90 segments over three years, reaching over two million people each week. The segments will also be adapted and published to Science Friday’s YouTube channel. In addition, Science Friday will hold a Monthly Book Club that reaches close to 50,000 committed listeners and work with libraries, publishers and local book clubs to expand listenership and uptake. They will also resume a dozen live events across the country on their traveling road show and begin a science series titled Picture of the Week on Instagram that reaches almost 70,000 people. Finally, they will continue their Science Goes to the Movies newsletter. 

The Science Research Mentoring Consortium (SRMC), run by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), is the most expansive initiative in New York City that provides research experiences for high-school students. Across 28 city programs SRMC places up to 600 students per year into year-long lab or field research experiences, culminating in a poster session in AMNH’s Milstein Hall of Ocean Life where hundreds of students present their research. Funds from this grant provide core operating support for the administration and amplification of the SRMC, providing quality research experiences to an estimated 1500 New York City high school students over the three-year grant period.