How to get more involved in programming that benefits science and the advancement of the human race

Question

My day job is a good one, but there are times I long to pour my programming efforts into something that benefits science at large.

Something more than simply letting BOINC fold proteins and munge SETI data during my spare cycles.

Is anyone doing this now? Are there any projects on which I could get involved?

Answer 1

This is likely not what you are looking for, but if you are looking to help society and those in need, the following organization does a lot of good: givecamp: Coding for Charity.

For a different type of challenge, there are a lot of open source projects that could always use another helping hand. How to get involved in an open source project.

I was not aware of this, but there is an open source science software if you want to stay ultra-mathematical at The OpenScience Project.

Answer 2

You might also ask around a local university for graduate students who need software tooling for research projects. Many physicists end up rolling their own tools (simulators, etc.) and I'd imagine they'd be ecstatic to have a quality programmer at their disposal. Maybe you'll end up getting connected with higher-profile projects; or maybe you'll write the software that some kid uses to change our view of reality.

Good luck with whatever you find.

Answer 3

One of the most satisfying feelings I ever had was to learn that the lead scientist on a project I had once worked won a Nobel Prize for his work on that project. (The Nobel being what it is, this was over fifteen years after I had moved on and also several years after that science had been done. Mind you, there were literally hundreds of programmers involved and any competent programmer could have done what I did, but it was nice to know I had contributed.) So, I can certainly understand where you're coming from.

You don't say where you're working now, but if you're not currently working on a science project, why don't you get a job on one? You may have to brush up your science background, but if it's what you're interested in, go for it!

You don't say where you live. In the U.S., at least, there are plenty of opportunities to get science related programming jobs:

• In the Washington, D.C. area there are a lot of federal government agencies which do scientific research in a variety of fields. A few of these are: the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In my experience, it's fairly difficult to actually get a government position; however, there are lots of companies with contracts to these agencies to provide support, including programming and other IT work.
• In other areas of the U.S. there are still opportunities in at least some of the above (and other) federal agencies as many of them have operations centers in other areas of the country. Perhaps best known is that NASA has 11 major centers in 9 different states (and D.C.) and operations at smaller facilities in other states as well.
• As has been mentioned in other answers, universities are a resource for science-related programming jobs also. Many of these have grants of some sort which fund the research.
• I'm not familiar with the situation in other countries, but I'd expect the situation to be at least somewhat similar in other "major industrialized nations".

Answer 4

There's an app for that.

Ok, it's a web site, not an app: http://www.volunteermatch.org

Answer 5

Do a quick google for "socially relevant computing" it's a movement my old professor started here at SUNY Buffalo. Microsoft and many other universities have started to pick it up. It's a great idea and really makes you feel good when you get a working product out the door.

In general, like Superstringcheese said, ask at a local university.

Answer 6

I know that everyone knows exactly what you're talking about when you say, "science at large," but I do not. To categorize crudely, there are two types of programming gigs:

1. The kind in which you're working for the evil empire, making their mutual funds invest better, or figuring out how to sell to companies better, etc. etc.
2. The kind in which you are working somewhere in the evil empire, but your project has a "pure" technology focus (or may get one). This includes open source (and open source with pay-for-support agreements :) ).

Just think about how the Apache project has benefitted science (or MySql, or even Java). The closer you can get to a pure technology focus, the more chance you have of helping. This is my answer, however...

If you want to get your geek on and have an immediate link with "science," meaning dudes (and dudettes) in white lab coats doing pure research for no personal gain... those people usually work in universities and use the research assistant or teaching assistant who "knows the most about coding" (I should know, I was there once). If you really want to help out, walk over to your local university, and head directly to the department that strikes your fancy. Ask the administrative assistants who their boss is. When you find the main administrative assistant who runs the show, they will be able to tell you which professors you can talk to, what you should wear to talk to them, and what kind of stuff you should say so they'll be interested in talking to you. Surely when you offer your services as a coder, you'll get a taker or two.

If you do this, don't forget to think about when you'll start charging money. That way you can quit your day job and just do "science at large" full time.

Answer 7

Something more than simply letting BOINC fold proteins and munge SETI data during my spare cycles.

Both BOINC and SETI would welcome new volunteer programmers too.