Travel: Building Engagement at 2025 US Research Software Engineers Conference

Advancing the growth of computational and data-enabled science and engineering is an essential driver of scientific and technological progress. There are pressing challenges in developing the national cyberinfrastructure (CI) and in recruiting and retaining a skilled CI workforce that can accelerate and amplify the impact of CI across all areas of science and engineering research and education. Addressing these challenges requires innovative approaches to engaging a broad range of skilled CI professionals. The Building Engagement program is designed as an on-ramp to establish career pathways for aspiring CI professionals from all backgrounds. The goal of the Building Engagement program at the 2025 US Research Software Engineering conference is to increase participation of students by creating a welcoming experience in a mainstream professional society where the participants can learn and envision themselves with thriving CI careers. The program provides full access to the conference technical program and opportunities for students to present their research, as well as mentoring and career and professional development. Key innovations of the program include specialized conference activities to expand and strengthen learning and increase the likelihood of student persistence while also catalyzing broader community growth. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.