21 March 2019
Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of NumFOCUS.
All votes are reported in the form “(Y/N/A)” (in favor-Y‚ opposed-N‚ abstentions-A; e.g. “4-1-2” means “4 in favor, 1 opposed, and 2 abstentions”).
March 21, 2019
Participating:
Board members: Jane Herriman, Stéfan van der Walt, Sylvain Corlay, James Powell, Lorena Barba
ED: Leah Silen
Board Members Not Attending: Andy Terrel, Katrina Riehl
Introduction: Sam Brice, visiting Fellow from Two Sigma
Approval of Minutes from last meeting: 4-0-0
Resolutions Voted on by Email or Github: NA
Executive Director’s Report:
Reviews of revisions to NumFOCUS EU bylaws are ongoing. Sylvain, James, and Leah are meeting to discuss changes from our attorney.
Two Sigma has renewed their corporate sponsorship, in addition to funding Sam Brice’s time at NF.
Paul Ivanov and Anthony Scopatz will be co-chairing our 2019 Summit and will be identifying the areas in which committee work/members are needed. Andy and Katrina will represent the Board in helping organize the 2019 Summit.
NumFOCUS is still in conversation with Moore about funding for each of three potential project ideas that include engineering work, development of shared infrastructure for projects, and diversification of contributor bases.
The Advisory Council met recently. For more details, see the discussion item on corporate sponsorships.
Discussion Items:
a. CVPM - Affiliated
This project provides a package manager with a focus on computer vision. It's not clear if they're scientifically
oriented enough to align with our mission, given how young
the project is. We voted (5-0-0) to reject CVPM for now,
encouraging them to reapply in a year or later, once the
project has matured.
b. Pvlib - Affiliated
This is a straightforward fit. It is scientifically
oriented, open, and kind. We voted 5-0-0 to accept pvlib
as an Affiliated project.
c. John Hunter Fellowship Update
We came up with a plan to have a committee determine the
structure/format of the fellowship prior to SciPy 2019 (in
July) so that the new structure of the fellowship can be
formally announced there, at which time the application
will open. Additionally, previous winners of the
fellowship can be recognized at SciPy 2019. Winners for
the upcoming cycle will be announced likely in Fall 2019
and recognized at SciPy 2020.
*Target*: Leah will identify core committee members by
next Board meeting on April 4. Ideally the committee will
be gender balanced and consist of 3 to 5 people.
d. Corporate Sponsorship Discussion from Advisory Council Meeting
We decided to table this topic until we get our new staff
member to help make decisions about corporate sponsorship
structures. The exception is that restructuring PyData
benefits should happen in the short term.
e. 2018 Annual Report
The Annual Report is almost ready but not live yet. We
will put out a call to the projects for a new cover photo.
Resolutions:
5-0-0 approve pvlib as an Affiliated Project
5-0-0 reject CVPM as an Affiliated Project for now, with possibility to reapply after the project has matured