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US-RSE: Supporting the Research Software Engineer

By Ian A. Cosden, Jeffrey C. Carver, Julia Damerow, Charles Ferenbaugh, Sandra Gesing, Chris Hill, Daniel S. Katz, Christina Maimone, and Lance Parsons

Do you develop software that solves research problems as part of your work? If so, are you recognized professionally for these efforts? If you use research software, do you think that the work of other researchers to develop and maintain such software is important to your own research?

The term “research software engineer” (RSE) was coined in 2012; since then, the use and recognition of this title has increased considerably. An international movement that is centered around the role has gained traction in multiple countries, including the U.S. This momentum reflects the critical contributions of RSEs to research in all fields and the need for a community that supports individuals in RSE roles, which are often underrecognized. While much research now depends on specialized research software, the recognition and incentives that are necessary for professional RSE careers have not yet fully emerged in industry, academia, or government.

Figure 1. The US Research Software Engineer Association (US-RSE) began as a community-driven, grassroots organization.
The US Research Software Engineer Association (US-RSE) was created in early 2018 by a handful of motivated individuals who are passionate about advancing RSE work as a recognized professional career path (see Figure 1). US-RSE began as a community-driven, grassroots organization; in the three years since its formation, membership—which is growing at a steady rate of roughly 30 new members per month—has increased to nearly 800 members throughout the country (see Figure 2) and internationally.

What is an RSE?

At US-RSE, we prefer a broad and inclusive definition of RSEs that encompasses all those who regularly use expertise in programming to advance research. This group includes researchers who spend a significant amount of time programming, full-time software engineers who write code to solve research problems, and anyone who falls somewhere in between. We aspire to apply the skills and practices of software development to ultimately create more robust, manageable, and sustainable research software.

RSEs exist in every corner of the research community — from mathematics to physics, engineering, sociology, the humanities, and everything in between. And the ranks continue to grow. As overall awareness increases of the importance of software engineering best practices to the sustainability, reproducibility, usability, and performance of research code, so too does the need and demand for RSEs.

Although the burgeoning awareness of the role of an RSE is certainly a step in the right direction, we still have much work to do in order to raise the RSE concept to the level of a true profession. In particular, several pertinent questions arise: 

  • Am I an RSE?
  • How do I become an RSE?
  • Where do RSEs fit in an organization?
  • How should RSEs be funded?
  • What does a long-term career path for an RSE look like?
  • Where should RSEs go to learn, grow, and network? 

Building an RSE Association

At US-RSE, we believe that we are stronger together and can collectively answer these questions. We are building a connective, supportive, and diverse community of individuals from universities, laboratories, knowledge institutes, companies, and other enterprises. We advocate for our members, raise awareness of the importance of the RSE role, and actively work to improve diversity within the RSE profession. 

US-RSE hosts monthly community calls on topics that pertain to RSEs. We hold annual virtual workshops with talks and breakout discussions. We have newsletters, a podcast, a growing list of resources on our website, and an active Slack workspace. US-RSE also posts and promotes RSE job openings and sponsors early-career panels, conference presentations, and workshops. Working groups have organically formed around “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” and “Training and Education.” We do all of this as a community of volunteers who are motivated by the single purpose of supporting RSEs.

We welcome anyone—including individuals outside the U.S.—who supports our organizational mission,  especially those who identify as RSEs, those who are interested in RSE careers, or those who may not be RSEs but consider themselves RSE “allies” or manage individuals in RSE roles. If you are not from the U.S., you may be interested in finding your local RSE association; national and multinational RSE associations are forming across the globe. 

Want to learn more, listen in on the conversation, or get involved and be part of the movement? We’d love for you to join us!

Figure 2. US-RSE membership is growing steadily; members are located throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Researchers Play a Crucial Role

If you use research software but are not an RSE, there are still many things that you can do to support the people whose primary job is to contribute to the software on which you rely. Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Cite all of the software that you use to produce your work
  • When your collaboration includes an RSE, make sure that they are a co-author on any resulting papers
  • Identify opportunities to formally recognize the contributions of people who develop software in your field
  • Help educate your institution's leadership about the importance of research software and RSEs and ask them to establish and support RSE services and positions
  • Acknowledge the value of skilled software developers by using the RSE term to raise awareness and bring the role into the forefront of computational research.


Ian Cosden spoke about US-RSE during a minisymposium presentation at the 2021 SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering, which took place virtually in March 2021. 

The members of the 2021 US-RSE steering committee all collectively contributed to this article.

Ian A. Cosden is the Director of Research Software Engineering for Computational and Data Science at Princeton University. Jeffrey C. Carver is a professor of computer science at the University of Alabama. Julia Damerow is a lead scientific software engineer at Arizona State University. Charles Ferenbaugh is a computer scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Sandra Gesing is a Senior Scientist, Scientific Outreach and the Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) Lead in the Discovery Partner Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago. Chris Hill is a principal research engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Daniel S. Katz is chief scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and an associate research professor of computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and information sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Christina Maimone is Research Data Services Lead, Research Computing Services at Northwestern University.  Lance Parsons is a scientific programmer in the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University.

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