Planetary Society Weekly Hangout: Programming in the Sciences

Thursday, Apr 4th at noon PDT/1900 UTC

Posted by Casey Dreier

2013/04/03 02:30 CDT

Topics: explaining science, podcasts and videos, fun, interview

Many scientists never have formal training in programming but are expected to write code for their research. This code is often private, which makes it difficult to verify and test.

Is science affected by this? Should all scientists be required to get formal training in computer science? Should they release their code as open-source software to the public? Are there minimum guidelines for code styles and quality used in the sciences?

We'll talk about this and more with Chase Million, founder of Million Concepts, a company that provides programming consulting to research scientists. From his bio:

Chase Million spent six years on the Pancam team for the Mars Exploration Rovers and four more as the lead software engineer for science operations on the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission. He has designed, written, and maintained calibration and science analysis software for multiple missions, performed research, and participated in mission design and operations.

Casey Dreier will also provide an update on NASA funding and what to expect when the President proposes his new budget on April 10th.

As always, you can participate and ask questions via Twitter using the hashtag #planetarylive or post comments on the YouTube or G+ Event page.

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