Hi everyone,
You might have seen me around announcing the 2022 CWL Conference. I am happy to share that I have recently started a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Community Engineer role to work with the CWL community. It is part of a Chan-Zuckerberg initiative open source grant – which you can read about here – through Curii Corporation.
Being a Latina that has worked with underrepresented groups in tech and tech-adjacent fields for over ten years, I expect to help the CWL community grow even stronger by enabling more diverse voices to participate in its online and offline spaces. I also bring my experience as a researcher on technology and society, and as a community and event organizer in and out of school. During my Master’s and PhD I studied Internet governance, software production, and the use of mobile apps, especially in Latin America. In 2021, I was an Outreachy intern with EDAM Ontology and collaborated with other research software and bioinformatics organizations. I have also edited an open access publication for eight years and am a strong supporter of open science and FAIR practices!
Community has been at the core of the CWL project, from its beginning at the OpenBio Codefest 2014 and continuing throughout the last 8 years. My job includes efforts to make the CWL online content more friendly and accessible for new users, especially those from underrepresented groups in technology. Our projects for 2022 also include supporting mentorship and internship programs and, of course, organizing the CWL Conference.
Stay tuned for more news and feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@melissablck) and other CWL communication channels (such as Matrix). See you!
I’m really happy that you are funded to contribute to the CWL project; and I’m excited for your plans!