UT System Launches Texas-OSPO to Advance Open Source Innovation
New initiative expands training, collaboration, and open source leadership across one of the nation’s largest university systems
The University of Texas System has launched the Texas Open Source Program Office (Texas-OSPO), a new initiative to advance the use and development of open source software across its academic institutions. Funded in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Texas-OSPO will support research, education, and collaboration systemwide.
Serving more than 260,000 students and supporting over $4.7 billion in annual research expenditures, the UT System is one of the largest public university systems in the world.
Texas-OSPO will act as a centralized resource to offer open source best practices and provide training and consultation services across its campuses, while connecting a systemwide community of researchers and developers.
The UT System is dedicated to fostering innovation in research and education through open source software. By integrating UTRC efforts with the UT Austin-OSPO and the planned System-wide Texas-OSPO, we will empower faculty, students, and research teams with advanced tools and expertise, accelerating innovation across multiple disciplines.
The initiative brings together The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas at Dallas, The University of Texas at El Paso, and The University of Texas at San Antonio within a coordinated system wide network. It will expand access to tools, expertise, and resources that support sustainable software development, building on the existing UT Austin OSPO and the UT System’s research cyberinfrastructure (UTRC) initiative. UTRC provides high performance computing, data analytics, and software infrastructure that supports researchers across all 13 UT System institutions.
“The UT System is dedicated to fostering innovation in research and education through open source software,” said Dr. Joan Bienvenue, associate vice chancellor for research and chief research security officer for UTSystem. “By integrating UTRC efforts with the UT Austin-OSPO and the planned System-wide Texas-OSPO, we will empower faculty, students, and research teams with advanced tools and expertise, accelerating innovation across multiple disciplines.”
“Open source software is now a foundational component of modern research,” said Dr. Jennifer Schopf, principal investigator for Texas-OSPO. “This initiative will empower our researchers and students to collaborate more effectively, accelerate innovation, and ensure that the software they create has lasting value and broad impact.”
Texas-OSPO will deliver a comprehensive suite of services, including:
- Training programs ranging from introductory software skills to advanced open source project and community management to using AI effectively in software development
- One-on-one consultations to support licensing, sustainability, reproducibility and commercialization pathways
- A Catalog of Active Software Projects to connect researchers, students, and the community with real-world research and software contribution opportunities
- A Case Study Lecture Series featuring leaders in open source innovation
- The annual Open Source Program Office Symposium (OSPOSIUM), a system-wide convening event, with the first to be held September 23-24, 2026, at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, with explicit support for student attendees
Open source software is now a foundational component of modern research. This initiative will empower our researchers and students to collaborate more effectively, accelerate innovation, and ensure that the software they create has lasting value and broad impact.
Texas-OSPO will also support student career development through training, internships, and mentorship opportunities in open source software. The initiative further supports responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence in software development, addressing emerging needs across academia and industry.
“This effort is a major step forward in building a connected, collaborative, and sustainable open source ecosystem across Texas,” said Dr. Angela Newell, co-principal investigator and director of the UT Austin OSPO. “By working together, these institutions can expand their collective impact and accelerate innovation and discovery across research and education.”
Over its initial two-year phase, Texas-OSPO will expand engagement across UT System institutions and build partnerships with national and international open source organizations. Project outcomes, including training materials, best practice guides, and evaluation reports, will be shared broadly with the global research community.
For more information, please visit http://texas-opensource.org/.