[Mesquitelist] R/Mesquite: possibility for a Google Summer of Code project

[Hilmar Lapp]

NESCent (http://www.nescent.org/) is participating in the 2008 Google  
Summer of Code, see below for the full announcement that went out  
through EvolDir (and other channels) 2 weeks ago if you have not  
received it.

There is a possibility that Wayne Maddison and myself can mentor a  
project on taking the bridging R and Mesquite work that was started  
at the Comparative Methods in R hackathon to the next level. The  
ideal student would have programming skills in R *and* Java (ideally  
Mesquite Java), but a candidate who knows either one or the other may  
work too.

Here are some URLs that may provide some ideas on what would be  
involved:
http://hackathon.nescent.org/R_Hackathon_1/Mesquite-R_Integration_SG
http://r-forge.r-project.org/plugins/scmsvn/viewcvs.php/trunk/Rpkgs/ 
RMesquite/?root=phyloc

The student application period ends on April 7 (Monday), 5pm PDT/8pm  
EDT (0:00 UTC on April 8). If you are interested and an eligible  
student (see below for URLs), please get in touch with me *at your  
earliest convenience.* I'm sorry for the short notice but it wasn't  
apparent until now that this project would be possible.

	-hilmar

-- 
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: Hilmar Lapp  -:-  Durham, NC  -:- hlapp at duke dot edu :
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Phyloinformatics Summer of Code 2008
http://phyloinformatics.net/Phyloinformatics_Summer_of_Code_2008

The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent: http:// 
www.nescent.org/) is participating in 2008 for the second year as a  
mentoring organization in the Google Summer of Code (http:// 
code.google.com/soc). Through this program, Google provides
undergraduate, masters, and PhD students with a unique opportunity to  
obtain hands-on experience writing and extending open-source software  
under the mentorship of experienced developers from around the world.

Our goal in participating is to train future researchers and  
developers to not only have awareness and understanding of the value  
of open-source and collaboratively developed software, but also to  
gain the programming and remote collaboration skills needed to  
successfully contribute to such projects. Students will receive a  
stipend from Google, and may work from their home, or home  
institution, for the duration of the 3 month program. Students will  
each have one or more dedicated mentors with expertise in  
phylogenetic methods and open-source software development.

NESCent is particularly targeting students interested in both  
evolutionary biology and software development. Project ideas (see URL  
below) range from visualizing phylogenetic data in R, to development  
of a Mesquite module, web-services for phylogenetic data providers or  
geophylogeny mashups, implementing phyloXML support, navigating  
databases of networks, topology queries for PhyloCode registries, to  
phylogenetic tree mining in a MapReduce framework, and more.

The project ideas are flexible and many can be adjusted in scope to  
match the skills of the student. If the program sounds interesting to  
you but you are unsure whether you have the necessary skills, please  
email the mentors at the address below.  We will work with you to  
find a project that fits your interests and skills.

INQUIRIES:
Email any questions, including self-proposed project ideas, to
phylosoc {at} nescent {dot} org.

TO APPLY:
Apply on-line at the Google Summer of Code website
(http://code.google.com/soc/2008), where you will also find GSoC program
rules and eligibility requirements.  The 1-week application period for
students opened on Monday March 24th and runs through Monday, April  
7th, 2008.

Hilmar Lapp and Todd Vision
US National Evolutionary Synthesis Center

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URLs:
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2008 NESCent Phyloinformatics Summer of Code:
http://phyloinformatics.net/Phyloinformatics_Summer_of_Code_2008

Eligibility requirements:
http://code.google.com/opensource/gsoc/2008/faqs.html#0.1_eligibility

Stipends:
http://code.google.com/opensource/gsoc/2008/faqs.html#0.1_administrivia