Merge branch 'main' into zan_2024

Signed-off-by: Daniel Shown <[email protected]>

blog/2024-10-23-story-telling-in-grant-writing.md

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+---
+title: Storytelling in Grant Writing Workshop
+description: The "Storytelling in Grant Writing" workshop introduced participants to the power of narrative in crafting compelling grant proposals, emphasizing emotional engagement and data-driven storytelling.
+slug: blog_storytelling_in_grant_writing
+authors: [Ajith Akuthota]
+tags: [announcement, workshop, open source software, research software]
+hide_table_of_contents: false
+---
+
+Julie Turner presented the "Storytelling in Grant Writing" workshop, offering valuable insights into how narratives enhance grant proposals. The event highlighted strategies for combining emotional connection with data to create compelling grant narratives—an approach particularly relevant to researchers and developers working on open source and research software projects.
+
+The workshop was facilitated by **Jenna Gorlewicz, Associate Dean**, who emphasized the importance of storytelling in communicating research vision effectively in grant applications. In her follow-up, Jenna noted that storytelling is an essential component of sharing the vision of research, making it a powerful tool for grant proposals across disciplines, including open source and research software development.
+
+<!--truncate-->
+
+**What:** Storytelling in Grant Writing Workshop  
+**Who:** Presented by Julie Turner  
+**When:** Wednesday, Oct 23, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.  
+**Where:** McDonnell Douglas Room 1001  
+**Questions:** [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
+
+### **Why Storytelling Matters for Open Source and Research Software**
+
+Julie emphasized the unique challenges faced by researchers and developers seeking funding for open source and research software projects:
+
+- **Justifying Community Impact:**  
+  Open source software thrives in collaborative environments where community engagement is critical. Storytelling can highlight how the software meets specific community or research needs, fostering a deeper connection with grant reviewers.
+
+- **Balancing Metrics with Narrative:**  
+  While data-driven results are essential, integrating personal stories—like how a bioinformatics API empowers researchers in underfunded labs—can make a proposal more memorable.
+
+- **Illustrating Long-Term Benefits:**  
+  For research software, storytelling helps convey broader impacts, such as advancing scientific discoveries or making computational tools accessible globally.
+
+### **Workshop Highlights**
+
+1. **Introducing Characters and Context**
+
+   - Showcase developers, researchers, or end-users behind the software.
+   - Create a vivid picture of the problem the software solves, emphasizing real-world relevance.
+
+2. **Building Tension in the Proposal**
+
+   - Highlight challenges in sustaining open source and research software without institutional funding.
+   - Use conflict—such as the limitations of proprietary tools—to justify the need for open, scalable alternatives.
+
+3. **Crafting the Narrative**
+   - **Orientation:** "This software was born out of a need for accessible computational tools in underserved regions."
+   - **Complication:** "However, without sustainable funding, maintaining quality and usability for the community is challenging."
+   - **Resolution:** "With grant support, we will extend functionality, provide training, and ensure long-term impact."
+
+### **Real-World Applications**
+
+The workshop’s lessons directly apply to open source and research software. For example:
+
+- A **collaborative bioinformatics tool** that accelerates genomic research. A strong narrative could highlight its potential for advancing cancer research in resource-constrained labs.
+- A **climate modeling software** where storytelling underscores the urgency of accessible tools to address global environmental challenges.
+
+### **Additional Insights from the Associate Dean**
+
+Jenna Gorlewicz emphasized that storytelling is integral to all grant applications. It plays a vital role in sharing the research vision, a necessity for connecting with funders. She also highlighted resources available for researchers, including:
+
+- **Research Lunch and Learn series:** Monthly sessions, such as the November session on *Using the PI Dashboard for Managing Grants*.  
+- **External proposal review resources:** Providing feedback to refine submissions.  
+- **Mentorship programs:** Facilitating guidance for early-career researchers navigating grant writing.
+
+---
+
+Questions? Contact us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).

blog/2024-11-30-experience-contributing-to-oss-slu.md

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+---
+title: Experience contributing to OSS-SLU
+slug: experience_contributing_to_oss-slu
+authors: [anjali]
+hide_table_of_contents: false
+---
+
+Recently, I undertook the challenge of updating the **'About'** page for open source with SLU at https://oss-slu.github.io/docs/about. This page includes **About Us** content alongside the profiles of the **Leadership Team**.
+
+<!--truncate-->
+
+### The Challenge 
+The goal was to update the details of our **current** and **previous tech leads** within a markdown file. Originally, each tech lead was represented by individual `div` elements in a markdown file. As the number of tech leads grew, so did the length of the document.
+
+![Current Tech Leads](./experience-contributing-to-oss-20241130/current-tech-leads.jpg)
+
+![Previous Tech Leads](./experience-contributing-to-oss-20241130/previous-tech-leads.jpg)
+
+### Initial Approach
+To streamline this, I considered moving from plain **Markdown** to **MDX**, which allows embedding React components directly into markdown files. This switch required creating `next.config.js`, which essentially tells **Next.js** to support MDX. I crafted a `Profile` component in `src/components/people`, aiming for better maintainability by grouping react components by functionality. 
+
+![Component Tree](./experience-contributing-to-oss-20241130/file-tree-outer.jpg)
+
+I replaced each static `div` with this dynamic `Profile` component within the MDX file, which seemed promising. However, this transition didn't reduce the overall verbosity as I had hoped. To address this, I experimented using JSX and loops directly in the MDX files, aiming to replace multiple `Profile` components with a single loop that could dynamically render each tech lead. This approach intended to simplify the document further by minimizing repetitive code. Unfortunately, this method faced limitations when dealing with intricate functionalities, emphasizing the constraints of MDX with more complex logic.
+
+### A Strategic Pivot
+Realizing the limitations of directly using MDX for complex interactions, I shifted strategy. I created separate React components for the current and previous tech leads and sourced their data from JSON files — `currentGradTechLeads.json` and `prevGradTechLeads.json`. 
+
+![JSON Data Tree](./experience-contributing-to-oss-20241130/json-data.jpg)
+
+This approach allowed me to loop through the JSON data within these components, dynamically populating the `Profile` component. By consolidating all profiles under the CurrentTechLeads and PrevTechLeads components within the MDX file, I eliminated approximately 60-70 lines of code, simplifying the document structure and enhancing maintainability.
+
+### Understanding MDX’s Power and Limitations
+This experience highlighted MDX's strengths in enriching markdown files with interactive React elements and the ease of embedding JSX directly. However, it also revealed its limitations in executing more complex conditional rendering and iterative processes. For such dynamic functionalities, external JavaScript proved to be more effective, offering greater flexibility and control over the content management and interaction logic on the page.
+
+### Final Touches
+Ensuring the page's navigational elements remained intact was crucial, so I have tested to ensure all links and anchors functioned correctly, preserving the user experience. 
+
+![Navigator on About Page](./experience-contributing-to-oss-20241130/navigator.jpg)
+
+### Reflections and Takeaways
+This project highlighted the evolving capabilities of web technologies like **MDX** and **React**, demonstrating their potential to transform content management. The use of MDX, coupled with React and external JSON data, provided a modular, maintainable approach that could easily be adapted or expanded by future developers.
+
+Contributing to this project was an enriching experience, deepening my understanding of modern content management strategies and reinforcing the importance of adaptability in web development. Check out my work and contribute at [**OSS-SLU GitHub**](https://github.com/oss-slu/oss-slu.github.io).
+

blog/authors.yml

@@ -45,8 +45,20 @@ Karthik Mangineni:
   title: Graduate Student Team Lead at Open Source with SLU
   url: https://github.com/rcAsironman
   image_url: /img/karthikMangineni_avatar.jpg
+
 maryam:
   name: Maryam Moshrefi
   title: Graduate research assistant at Saint Louis University
   url: https://github.com/Moshrefi
   image_url: /img/maryam_avatar.jpeg
+
+anjali:
+  name: Anjali Putta
+  title: Graduate research assistant at Saint Louis University
+  url: https://anjaliofficial.netlify.app/
+  image_url: /img/anjali_avatar.jpeg
+
+Ajith Akuthota:
+  name: Ajith Akuthota
+  title: Tech Lead at Open Source with SLU
+  url: https://github.com/AjithAkuthota23

src/data/people/prevGradTechLeads.json

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
         "profileLink": "https://github.com/loganwyas"
     },
     {
-        "name": "Ruthvik Manneem",
+        "name": "Ruthvik Mannem",
         "image": "/img/ruthvik_avatar.png",
         "profileLink": "https://github.com/ruthvikm"
     },