From August 4–8, the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University hosted the sixth annual Code/Astro Workshop. Designed to train astronomers in foundational software development skills, the workshop brought together over 110 participants from across the globe — 70 in person in Evanston, IL, and 40 joining remotely.
Now in its sixth year, Code/Astro, led by CIERA professor Jason Wang and former CIERA postdoctoral fellow Sara Blunt, now an NSF Fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was founded to address a widespread gap in programming education among astronomers. While modern astronomy relies heavily on software tools and data analysis, formal training in software engineering is still not a standard part of most astronomy programs.
The workshop is designed primarily for astronomers at various career stages, from undergraduates to postdocs, and even includes occasional faculty members looking to integrate software skills into their own teaching.
“My main goal in attending the program was to learn the skills for releasing code for others to use,” said Brooke Kotten, a graduate student in the Astronomy PhD program at the University of Michigan. “I am using a transit detection algorithm for my research and will be releasing it to the community after I finish my PhD. Learning best coding practices before starting new projects can save a lot of hassle. After attending the workshop, I have an entirely new perspective on research workflow and how I should be documenting my code.”
Transparent, reproducible, and collaborative
Code/Astro is a free, week-long course that focuses on sustainable, open-source software development using Python. The course materials and lectures are available to anyone online. Participants work in small teams to design, build, and release a new software package by the end of the week. The goal is to provide hands-on experience with essential tools like Git, debugging, testing, and documentation — all within a collaborative, open-source framework.
“I’ve been developing open source astronomy software for 12 years now, but I had to figure out a lot by myself, picking up things along the way,” said Wang, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern and co-founder of the program. “In the process of a week, we gave Code/Astro participants the skills and the confidence to be able to release their own open source code,” Wang said.
Each day began with synchronous morning sessions, combining short lectures with live coding activities. Afternoons were left open for team work, supported by a team of 12 teaching assistants — many of whom are Code/Astro alumni. Sessions covered core programming content and inclusive practices in collaborative coding and included optional topics such as parallel programming and code profiling.
Remote Code/Astro participants
“This experience opened my eyes to the ways real-time collaboration happens in industry,” said Kotten. “We practiced ‘pair programming’, where one person types the code while the other watches and offers advice. This work style was surprisingly efficient. The typer focuses on correct syntax while the navigator thinks about the big picture code structure and setup. I will be bringing this practice back to my work and will suggest it to others who struggle with coding related group work.”
One key focus of Code/Astro is the role of open-source tools in promoting reproducibility in science. By encouraging astronomers to make their code public, the program aims to make research more transparent and accessible.
“We’re building open source tools that are publicly available to anyone to use,” Wang said. “Anyone can download these tools, download the data, and reproduce the results themselves.”
The program is generously supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation, which provides funding to keep the workshop free and to assist with participant travel. All course materials, including recorded lectures and example code, are made publicly available via GitHub and YouTube.
“The program exceeded my expectations in all aspects. I believe the reason this workshop functions so well is the organizers, Sarah and Jason,” Kotten said. “They heavily seek feedback and update the content so it stays fresh, even with the landscape of technology evolving so rapidly. It helps that the program is run by two active astronomers who understand both the technical tools and the needs of the astronomy community. The Code/Astro workshop is technically rigorous while being genuinely welcoming, a model for exactly how workshops should be run.”
CIERA is committed to training and empowering the next generation of scientists through innovative programming and educational opportunities like Code/Astro that foster interdisciplinary team science and advance our understanding of the Universe.
by Lisa La Vallee
Instructors
- Jason Wang (Northwestern)
- Sarah Blunt (UCSC)
Head Teaching Assistants
- Rae Holcolmb (UCI)
- Kruthi Krishna (DESY Zeuthen)
Teaching Assistants
- Elizabeth Moreno Hilario
- Chaitanya Chawak
- Sheila Sagear
- Sameh Othman
- Maria Stone
- Haniyeh Tajer
- Vidya Venkatesan
- Ellis Bogat
- Industry Panelists
- Saeed Rezaee
- Candice Stauffer
- Sarah Blunt
- Jason Wang
Local Organizing Committee
Local logistics were organized by the CIERA staff led by William Vercellone and Janet Lyons.