The 2026 SciPy conference was hosted at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in the McNamara Alumni Center.
Every year, users and developers of an open-source library of coding tools and algorithms — known as Scientific Python — gather for a conference to showcase projects made with the programming toolkit and to learn about its new developments.
At the 2026 SciPy conference, hosted July 13-19 in the Twin Cities by the University of Minnesota, the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) held a community discussion titled “The Academy and Industry: Building Interdisciplinary Relationships.”
SciPy conference Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) sessions aim to increase the opportunities for community building. They include a short presentation and an open discussion.
Caleb Krueger, a Post-Baccalaureate Research Fellow at CIERA, led the session, prompting participants to discuss how interdisciplinary relationships can be formed between academic research institutions and non-academic institutions, such as tech companies and federal research agencies.
The conversation’s theme was inspired by the recent launch of CIERA’s Tech Council, a group of STEM professionals who serve as technical experts, collaborators, and mentors to CIERA researchers.
Krueger is an Assistant Program Coordinator of the Tech Council alongside CIERA Board of Visitors Research Associate, Alexandra Mannings. With attendees’ fields of work ranging from academic data science to industrial biotechnology, Krueger said the discussion was a unique opportunity to get insight from a varied group of professionals with whom CIERA is intellectually and professionally aligned.
“It’s important for us to get the word out about our mission and our willingness to tread on paths not readily plowed,” said Krueger. “We want other industry professionals to hear and be excited about our ideas. We want them to want to get involved and bring new ideas of their own. And we want people to want to be on our Tech Council and to help make it a longstanding pillar of CIERA.”
One inaugural Tech Council member, Julie Holleck, attended the session. Holleck is a board member of NumFocus, a non-profit that helps manage open source Python libraries and is part of the academia-industry web CIERA’s Tech Council aims to strengthen.
Krueger asked participants where academic and industry priorities naturally align and diverge, what kinds of collaborations between the two are realistic, and how to ensure that initiatives for interdisciplinary work, like the Tech Council, are useful rather than performative.
The point of the session, according to Krueger, was not to bridge all gaps between profit-driven corporations and research-driven institutions, but to discuss the structures within each that free or constrain inter-institutional relations. He added that continued input from the community will help the Tech Council refine its priorities and identify specific opportunities to strengthen collaboration between academia and industry.
Caleb Krueger presenting at the 2026 SciPy conference.
“The discussion helped us realize there isn’t truly a one-size-fits-all approach to making this sort of body,” said Krueger. “Regular and continual dialogue between the Tech Council members and the CIERA community members on their individual priorities is best practice.”
Many participants acknowledged that, despite community support in both sectors for broadened cooperation between academia and industry, total collaboration between institutions and companies won’t occur at once.
Rather, progress relies on proactive goodwill at the individual level, such as with the members of the Tech Council who want to give back to their academic roots by sharing industry knowledge and showing students job niches that align with their research interests.
As a hub for interdisciplinary knowledge, the SciPy conference was an opportunity for CIERA to share its mission of translating technological expertise into scientific progress and build community across varying career paths.
“It was a profound learning experience for the CIERA Tech Council in its infancy, “ said Krueger. “We learned a lot from other people’s experiences and connected with those who could be helpful partners and mentors to the Tech Council going forward.”
by Georgia Kerrigan