2026
Jan 06
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EDT

Webinar

Series: User/Developer Experience Webinars

User/Developer Experience Webinars feature speakers who highlight best practices and challenges for usable scientific software. Have a suggestion for a future meeting? Use this Google form to propose ideas.

Steve Van Tuyl presents: Impacts of Generative AI on the RSE Workplace - Where are we and where might we go next?

Over a four month period, we engaged with over 100 research software engineers (RSEs) at a number of community events (SciPy, RSECon 25, US-RSE 2025, SC25) to better understand the impacts of Generative AI (GenAI) on the work of Research Software Engineers (RSEs). Through these conversations we have heard about how GenAI has impacted RSEs in academia, industry, and government roles, what promise they see in the technology, and what resources would be helpful for navigating the GenAI landscape. We’ll close the presentation with a view into next steps for developing these resources with the RSE community to ensure the profession thrives through this technological step-change.

Elle O’Brien presents: More Code, Less Validation: How Scientists Are Adopting AI Coding Tools

This talk presents findings from a survey of 868 research scientists about their adoption and use of generative AI tools for programming. Adoption is highest among junior researchers and those with less programming experience, with ChatGPT overwhelmingly preferred over targeted developer tools like GitHub Copilot. Scientists reporting the highest perceived productivity gains tend to report less programming experience, lower adoption of development practices like testing and code review, and accepting larger chunks of generated code at once. These patterns raise concerns about research software quality as AI-generated code enters scientific workflows with limited quality control mechanisms.

Presenters

  • Steve Van Tuyl (Academic Data Science Alliance)
  • Elle O’Brien (Michigan School of Information)

Organizer

  • Johanna (Hannah) Cohoon (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab)

Presenter bios

Steve Van Tuyl is a Program Manager with the Alliance for Data Science and AI, where he supports academic institutions to launch, grow, and evolve their data science and AI initiatives through strategic guidance, community expertise, and resources grounded in real institutional practice. He previously worked in academic libraries on digital repository and research data services.

Elle O’Brien is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Information. She is also the director of the Michigan Institute for Data Science’s graduate certificate program.

Organizer bio

Johanna (Hannah) Cohoon is a User Experience Researcher at LBNL, seeking to create more rewarding and impactful careers for research software engineers and more efficient and enjoyable experiences for users. She has focused on studying and facilitating open source development, open science practices, and data intensive workflows. Hannah earned her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin.