The Carpentries (comprised of Data Carpentry, Library Carpentry, and Software Carpentry) is a project whose mission is to teach foundational computational and data science skills to researchers and others who create, manage, and use data.
The Smithsonian Institution has been a member organization since 2017, and a Platinum Member since 2021. More than 1000 Smithsonian staff, fellows, and interns have taken at least one Carpentries course since then. We also conduct custom workshops, most of which have been genomics-related. Workshop materials can be found on our GitHub page. You can read more about the Smithsonian Carpentries team in our 2019 annual report.
We offer peer-led workshops for Smithsonian staff, academic appointees, contractors, volunteers, and other SI-affiliated individuals on a fairly regular basis. To be informed of these workshops and other SI Carpentries events, you can sign up for our announcement mailing list. To sign up for notifications, click the button below and enter your email address:
Trained Carpentries Instructors
We are looking for Smithsonian staff and fellows to be trained to join our team of instructors. No prior teaching experience is necessary, but we suggest experience with using one or more of the following: OpenRefine, Python, R, SQL, Unix, or GitHub. All instructors attend a virtual 4-half-day training workshop using evidence-based techniques for teaching computational skills.
We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis.
Active Instructors
- Carlos Arias, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI)
- Maddy Bursell, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
- Stephen Cox, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (SLA)
- Carrie Craig, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH)
- Corey DiPietro, National Museum of American History (NMAH)
- Rebecca Dikow, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
- Jennifer Giaccai, Freer-Sackler (FSG)
- Vanessa Gonzalez, Global Genome Initiative (GGI)
- Jennifer Hammock, Encyclopedia of Life (EOL)
- Kristina Heinricy, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (SLA)
- Valentine Herrmann, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI)
- Richie Hodel, National Museum of Natural History and OCIO Data Science Lab (NMNH/OCIO)
- James Holmquist, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC)
- Sylvain Korzennik, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO)
- Matt Kweskin, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH)
- Holly Little, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH)
- Adam Mansur, National Musuem of Natural History (NMNH)
- Rayvn Manuel, National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)
- Rodolfo Montez, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO)
- Christopher Moriarty, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO)
- Michael O'Mahoney, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH)
- Paula Pappalardo, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC)
- Crystal Sanchez, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
- Keri Thompson, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
- Mike Trizna, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
- Luis Villanueva, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
- Alex White, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
- Sue Zwicker, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (SLA)
Alumni Instructors
- Lucy Chang, NMNH Paleo
- Tauana Cunha, STRI
- Amanda Devine, GGI
- Jenna Ekwealor, OCIO
- Dave Klinges, SERC
- Mauro Lepore, ForestGEO
- Bruno de Medeiros, STRI
- Alex Robillard, OCIO
- Jennifer Spillane, OCIO
- Mirian Tsuchiya, OCIO
Requesting a Workshop
Do you work at the Smithsonian and want to organize a workshop to be held at your unit?
Send an email to Carpentries@si.edu, and answer the following questions:
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Who is the contact person?
- Tell us about yourself and your role with the Smithsonian.
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How many learners do you expect to participate?
- We have taught workshops with as many as 40 learners, but we understand that some units and locations at the Smithsonian will only be able to host smaller workshops.
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What lesson(s) do you have in mind?
- Take a look at the existing Data, Library, and Software Carpentries lessons, and decide if these cover the skills the learners would benefit from. Also check out the list of Carpentries Incubator lessons. We have developed custom workshops in the past.
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What is the timeframe?
- Keep in mind that it will take a few weeks to pull together instructors and helpers who can devote 1-2 days of their time.
- Also keep in mind that it will take considerably more time to develop custom lessons.
Previous Workshops (2018 onward)
Date | Location | Subject |
---|---|---|
Feb 7-8, 2018 | NMNH | Data Carpentry Ecology with Python |
Mar 7-8, 2018 | SERC | Data Carpentry Ecology with R |
Jun 12-13, 2018 | NMNH | Data Carpentry Genomics |
Oct 10-19, 2018 | SCBI | Conservation Genomics |
Feb 4-5, 2019 | Castle Library | Winter 2019 Quarterly Data Carpentry (Python) |
March 5, 2019 | NMNH | Introduction to SI/HPC |
March 6, 2019 | NMNH | Informatics for Metabarcoding |
May 16-17, 2019 | Castle Library | Spring 2019 Quarterly Data Carpentry (R) |
June 4-5, 2019 | NMNH | Genome Annotation Workshop |
June 19-20, 2019 | SERC | Data Carpentry with R |
July 9-10, 2019 | Castle Library | Data Carpentry for Interns |
August 15-16, 2019 | Castle Library | Summer 2019 Quarterly Data Carpentry (Python) |
September 25-26, 2019 | SCBI | Data Carpentry with R |
November 21-22, 2019 | Castle Library | Autumn 2019 Quarterly Data Carpentry (R) |
February 12-13, 2020 | Castle Library | Winter 2020 Quarterly Data Carpentry (Python) |
March 3-4, 2020 | Smithsonian Marine Station, Fort Pierce, FL | Data Carpentry with R |
April 21 and 23, 2020 | Smithsonian Museum Support Center (online) | Data Carpentry with R |
May 19/20 and 26/27, 2020 | Smithsonian-wide (online) | Spring 2020 Quarterly Data Carpentry (R) |
June 16-19, 2020 | SERC Summer Interns | Data Carpentry with R |
August 11/12 and 18/19, 2020 | Smithsonian-wide | Summer 2020 Quarterly Data Carpentry (Python) |
September 15/16 and 22/23, 2020 | Smithsonian-wide | Library Carpentry |
Nov 23/24 and Nov 30/Dec 1, 2020 | Smithsonian-wide | Autumn 2020 Quarterly Data Carpentry (Python) |
Feb 22/23 and Mar 1/2, 2021 | Smithsonian-wide | Winter 2021 Quarterly Data Carpentry (Python) |
April 26-28, 2021 | Smithsonian/Harvard Center for Astrophysics | CfA Software Carpentry (Python) |
May 19-20 and May 26-27, 2021 | Smithsonian-wide | Spring 2021 Quarterly Data Carpentry (R) |
June 10-11 and June 14-15, 2021 | SERC | SERC Intern Data Carpentry (R) |
June 21-24, 2021 | Smithsonian-wide | Smithsonian Intern Data Carpentry (Python) |
July 30, 2021 | Smithsonian-wide | Introduction to AI and Machine Learning Pilot Workshop |
August 16-20, 2021 | Public | Species Delimitation Workshop |
August 24-25 and August 31-September 1, 2021 | Smithsonian-wide | Summer 2021 Quarterly Data Carpentry (Python) |
December 9-10 and 16-17, 2021 | Smithsonian-wide | Autumn 2021 Quarterly Data Carpentry (R) |
March 30/31 and April 6/7, 2022 | Smithsonian-wide | Winter/Spring 2022 Quarterly Data Carpentry (Python) |
June 21/22 and 28/29, 2022 | Smithsonian Interns | Summer 2022 Quarterly Data Carpentry (Python) |
October 18/19 and 25/26, 2022 | Smithsonian-wide | Autumn 2022 Quarterly Data Carpentry (R) |
January 9-11, 2023 | Smithsonian-wide | Winter 2023 Library Carpentry |
May 2023 | Smithsonian-wide | Spring 2023 Data Carpentry (Python) |
June 2023 | SERC | SERC Intern Data Carpentry |
January 2024 | Smithsonian-wide | Winter 2024 Library Carpentry |
May 2024 | Smithsonian-wide | Spring 2024 Carpentries style mini workshop |
June 2024 | SERC | SERC Intern Data Carpentry |
July 2024 | SI-wide Interns | Spring 2024 Intern Carpentry |