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ISS Conference🔗︎

Reminder: Last Week for In-person Registration for ISS 2026

Registration is open for the 2026 Improving Scientific Software Conference, but in-person registration is only available for a few more days. The deadline for in-person registration is March 20th, and block-rate hotel lodging is available at the walking-distance Residence Inn until March 22nd. Virtual participants may register until April 3rd.

The ISS Conference, hosted by the UCAR Software Engineering Assembly, will be held April 6-9, 2026 in Boulder CO, with the theme of Maintaining the Joy of Software Development. Visit our conference website conference website for more information.

ISS 2026 Block-rate Lodging Now Available

A quick addendum to yesterday's announcement - we are now able to offer our block-rate lodging for the 2026 Improving Scientific Software Conference.

As in prior years, the walking-distance Residence Inn Boulder is our partner hotel. The block rate is $109 per night and is available from Sunday, April 5 through Saturday, April 11, so you can extend your stay beyond the end of the conference (Thursday, April 9) if you wish to spend time exploring Boulder. The last day to book using the block rate is Sunday, March 8, 2026!

See our conference website for a link to the booking portal.

Register now to attend the 2026 Improving Scientific Software Conference!

Registration is now open for the 2026 Improving Scientific Software Conference. The ISS Conference, hosted by the UCAR Software Engineering Assembly, will be held April 6-9, 2026 in Boulder, CO with the theme of Maintaining the Joy of Software Development.

Join us either in person or virtually for our four day program (details coming soon!) featuring talks, tutorials, and keynote sessions on a range of scientific software topics. The deadline to register is March 20th, 2026 if you are attending in person, and April 3rd, 2026 for the virtual option. We will also offer block-rate hotel lodging at the walking-distance Residence Inn Boulder.

Visit our conference website for more information.

ISS 2026 Abstract Deadline is Now January 30th

The deadline is fast approaching to submit abstracts to the 2026 Improving Scientific Software Conference. The ISS Conference will be held April 6-10, 2026 in Boulder, CO with the theme of Maintaining the Joy of Software Development.

To give submitters a bit of extra time, we are extending the abstract submission deadline by one week to Friday January 30th, 2026 at 5 PM MT. We welcome anyone with an interest in improving scientific software design, quality, development, deployment, and support to submit an abstract for a talk, tutorial session, or panel. Student travel and registration support is available and submitters can also choose to participate in a conference proceeding.

We have also decided to move ISS 2026 from the previously announced NSF NCAR Mesa Lab location to our traditional home at the Center Green Campus. Due to facilities construction timeline changes, this venue is once again available to us and offers easier logistics for conference attendees. The conference will be hybrid, so virtual presentations are also welcome.

You may submit an abstract here and visit our conference website for more information.

Reminder: Improving Scientific Software Conference Accepting Abstracts

The 2026 Improving Scientific Software Conference is accepting abstracts through January 23, 2026. The conference is planned for April 6-10, 2026 at NSF NCAR's Mesa Laboratory in Boulder, CO with the theme being Maintaining the Joy of Software Development. We are accepting abstract submissions for talks, tutorials, and panel sessions, and presenters may attend either in person or virtually.

You have likely seen news coverage last week that the National Science Foundation (NSF) is planning a review of NSF NCAR's research and observational capabilities. The ISS Conference organizers have no additional details on the exact timing or scope of the review. We understand that this news may raise questions or concerns about any potential impacts on the conference. At this time, we do not expect any disruption and plan to continue with the conference as intended. We encourage all interested in participating to proceed with submissions. We will keep you updated if anything changes.

2026 Improving Scientific Software Conference now accepting abstracts

The UCAR Software Engineering Assembly's Improving Scientific Software Conference is returning in 2026! Next year's ISS will take place April 6-10, 2026 at NSF NCAR's Mesa Laboratory in Boulder, CO. The theme of the conference will be:

Maintaining the Joy of Software Development.

We are now accepting abstract submissions for talks, tutorials, and panel sessions. As always, we welcome anyone with an interest in improving scientific software design, quality, development, deployment, and support. Abstracts are due by: Friday January 23, 2026. We plan to provide student support as funding allows and will accept paper submissions for a conference proceeding.

You may submit an abstract here and visit our conference website for more information.

Presenting the ISS 2025 Conference Proceedings

The 2025 Improving Scientific Software Proceedings Committee is excited to present the cumulative efforts of the many authors who wrote and submitted a paper to our Conference Proceedings - which are now accessible via the ISS 2025 Proceedings Gallery.

This year, we decided to experiment with using Jupyter Notebooks as the paper format instead of plain-text papers, allowing for greater expressiveness and the potential for interactivity in papers. This decision required additional work on behalf of both the submitters and the editorial team; we thank both for their efforts and enthusiasm which have helped to make this process a success.

The ISS Conference Committee is in the initial planning stages for the 2026 Conference. Stay tuned for additional details later this year.

ISS 2025 Slides, Recordings, and Post-Conference Survey

The 2025 Improving Scientific Software Conference Committee would like to thank all presenters and attendees for making this year's Conference a success. We were happy to see valuable contributions from many different institutions and areas of study, as well as good discussion during the networking events and socials. If you registered for the conference, you should have received a post-conference survey. This survey will remain open until 10 May 2025, should you wish to provide us with feedback.

We have also posted the slides and recordings from each presentation and tutorial on the Online Conference Program. These materials are available to all.