VERSO Playbook#
Open source has transformed the way knowledge is created, shared, and sustained. Yet, in academic research, the adoption of open source principles often faces structural and cultural barriers. The Vermont Research Open Source Program Office (VERSO) was create to find, support and grow open source software, open data and open science. This playbook attempts to tells the story of VERSO’s creation at the University of Vermont with its vision, struggles, successes and challenges. It is both a documentary of our experience and a candid reflection for anyone seeking to build an Open Source Program Office in an academic setting.
About the University of Vermont#
The University of Vermont (UVM), founded in 1791, is one of the oldest universities in the United States and the fifth-oldest in New England. Located in Burlington, Vermont, UVM sits on a 460-acre campus overlooking Lake Champlain, with the Green Mountains to the east and the Adirondacks to the west. The university enrolls nearly 14,000 students across more than 100 undergraduate majors and 100+ graduate programs, organized into nine schools and colleges. UVM is nationally recognized for its commitment to sustainability, research excellence, and community engagement, earning a Top-100 Research University ranking and a spot among the Top 50 Green Colleges. The surrounding area offers a unique blend of a vibrant small city and abundant outdoor recreation, making Burlington a hub for culture, innovation, and environmental stewardship.
In February 2025, the University of Vermont earned the prestigious R1 designation from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, placing it among the top-tier research universities in the United States. This classification, established in 1973, recognizes institutions with “very high research activity,” defined by metrics such as annual research expenditures exceeding $50 million and the production of at least 70 research doctorates per year. Achieving R1 status reflects decades of investment in research infrastructure, faculty excellence, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
About VERSO#
The Vermont Research Open Source Program Office (VERSO) is the University of Vermont’s initiative to make open source a strategic asset for research, education, and community engagement. Established in 2022 through a grant from Alfred Sloan Foundation as one of the first academic OSPOs in the United States along with Johns Hopkins, RIT and University of California of Santa Cruz. The original proposal was in collaboration with Juniper Lovato of the Vermont Complex Systems Center and Bryn Geffert from the UVM Library. The office was organizationally under the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS) but the first physical office was located in the UVM Library.
VERSO’s core mission centers on three guiding principles: enablement, community, and sustainability. The office provides researchers with clear guidance on licensing and intellectual property, offers templates for governance and contribution guidelines, and delivers training workshops to build confidence in open-source practices. Beyond technical support, VERSO fosters a culture of shared knowledge through events, hackathons, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Crucially, the office embeds sustainability planning into every project, ensuring that open-source outputs remain useful and maintained well beyond their initial development phase. This approach transforms open source from an afterthought into a natural part of the research lifecycle. For more on VERSO’s foundational vision, see 2022 Vision and Foundation.
Since its inception, VERSO has experienced remarkable growth and organizational evolution. In 2024, the office transitioned from the UVM Library to the Vermont Complex Systems Center, becoming more independent as it developed into an institute under the Office of the Vice President of Research. This transition strengthened interdisciplinary work across all colleges and deepened connections with the Office of Engagement for community-focused research translation. The office’s educational footprint expanded significantly with the launch of the Open Research Collaborative Activities (ORCA) program—a student internship initiative that grew from 5 participants in 2023 to 30 by 2025, collectively contributing thousands of hours to real open-source projects while building professional skills that led to careers in technology, planning, and research.
VERSO’s impact extends far beyond campus borders. The office has cultivated partnerships with over 25 external organizations, including Vermont regional planning commissions, state agencies, nonprofits, and municipalities. These collaborations have produced practical tools like the Vermont Zoning Atlas, the Vermont Liveability Map, and wastewater infrastructure mapping systems that serve real community needs. The office has hosted or participated in over 40 major conferences, symposiums, and community events—ranging from the United Nations OSPOS for Good symposiums to PyData Vermont, from ESIP meetings to local UX design jams. VERSO has also delivered guest lectures across 20+ university courses spanning computer science, engineering, design, economics, and community development, exposing hundreds of students to open-source principles.
By 2025, as UVM achieved R1 research designation, VERSO had become integral to the university’s research infrastructure. Managing over 40 repositories across diverse domains, launching the UVM Dataverse for open data publishing, and engaging with 60+ research collaborators across campus, VERSO demonstrates how an academic OSPO can transform institutional culture. Rooted in UVM’s land-grant mission to serve the public good, VERSO partners with Vermont communities, nonprofits, and industry to co-develop solutions that address real-world challenges.
This playbook documents VERSO’s journey through chapters spanning 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025—exploring the wins, the setbacks, and the lessons learned. It provides a practical framework for other universities building open-source research programs, complete with guidance on tools, infrastructure, and policies, impact measurement, and sustainability planning for the long term. For context on why academic OSPOs matter, start with Why VERSO Was Created and Context and Landscape.