Institutionalizing Research Software Engineering Practices Through an Academic Open Source Program Office

Abstract

Research Software Engineering (RSE) has emerged as a critical professional practice supporting sustainable, reusable, and high-impact research software. However, many academic institutions lack organizational structures that consistently support RSE community building, training pathways, and collaboration across research domains. This paper reports on the Gegoria Tech Open Source Program Office (OSPO@GT) as an institutional mechanism for advancing RSE practices through coordinated education, student pipelines, and cross-unit collaboration. Drawing on three years of operational experience, we describe how OSPO activities – including community guidelines, training programs, and student engagement models – have functioned as RSE capacity-building interventions. We discuss outcomes, challenges, and lessons learned, with a focus on RSE community development and education. Our experience suggests that OSPOs can play a complementary role to RSE groups by lowering barriers to entry, scaling training, and embedding RSE best practices within research computing environments.