Carl Boettiger
@cboettig.bsky.social
Ecology, theory, computers. https://carlboettiger.info
Nice to see our work with NSF NAIRR pilot highlighted on their homepage: nairrpilot.org/projects/hig... It has certainly been a wild ride. Huge thanks to NSF and the fantastic team at NRP.ai for making this all possible
NAIRR Pilot - Project Highlights
The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot
nairrpilot.org
February 10, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Nice to see our work with NSF NAIRR pilot highlighted on their homepage: nairrpilot.org/projects/hig... It has certainly been a wild ride. Huge thanks to NSF and the fantastic team at NRP.ai for making this all possible
Reposted by Carl Boettiger
📣NEW in Mongabay: DSE's McKalee Steen & Magali de Bruyn share insights on how #TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge and Indigenous digital sovereignty are key to creating #ResponsibleAI for achieving #conservation and environmental goals.
📰 Read the story now: bit.ly/4bqbrfG
📰 Read the story now: bit.ly/4bqbrfG
AI-centered conservation efforts can only be ethical if Indigenous people help lead them (commentary)
In November, we joined more than 50,000 Indigenous and world leaders, diplomats, scholars and activists at the 30th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Brazil. Some of the most central...
bit.ly
January 9, 2026 at 6:06 PM
📣NEW in Mongabay: DSE's McKalee Steen & Magali de Bruyn share insights on how #TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge and Indigenous digital sovereignty are key to creating #ResponsibleAI for achieving #conservation and environmental goals.
📰 Read the story now: bit.ly/4bqbrfG
📰 Read the story now: bit.ly/4bqbrfG
We're hiring a full-time research software engineer for biodiversity & bioacoustics!
Position offers a strong research component with independence + research pub opportunities and real-world impact.
expected salary range $111K - $116K.
dse.berkeley.edu/news/were-hi...
Position offers a strong research component with independence + research pub opportunities and real-world impact.
expected salary range $111K - $116K.
dse.berkeley.edu/news/were-hi...
We’re Hiring! Help Build the Future of Biodiversity Research | The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center for Data Science & Environment at Berkeley
We’re excited to announce a new, full-time position opening for a Research Software Engineer / Data Scientist, who will focus on biodiversity and bioacoustics research.
dse.berkeley.edu
January 8, 2026 at 6:25 PM
We're hiring a full-time research software engineer for biodiversity & bioacoustics!
Position offers a strong research component with independence + research pub opportunities and real-world impact.
expected salary range $111K - $116K.
dse.berkeley.edu/news/were-hi...
Position offers a strong research component with independence + research pub opportunities and real-world impact.
expected salary range $111K - $116K.
dse.berkeley.edu/news/were-hi...
Compelling report from the ATOM project on the state of open models: www.atomproject.ai
The ATOM Project - American Truly Open Models
Reinvigorating AI research in the U.S. by building leading, open models in America
www.atomproject.ai
January 7, 2026 at 4:48 PM
Compelling report from the ATOM project on the state of open models: www.atomproject.ai
Rather applaud JOSS's revised approach to deal with AI-based submissions. blog.joss.theoj.org/2026/01/prep... , particularly with 'starting open' and at least 'six months developer history'. More of scholarly pub could benefit from such policies methinks.
Preparing JOSS for a generative AI future: From code to human creativity and design | Journal of Open Source Software Blog
Blog for the Journal of Open Source Software • <a href='https://joss.theoj.org'>https://joss.theoj.org</a>
blog.joss.theoj.org
January 5, 2026 at 11:49 PM
Rather applaud JOSS's revised approach to deal with AI-based submissions. blog.joss.theoj.org/2026/01/prep... , particularly with 'starting open' and at least 'six months developer history'. More of scholarly pub could benefit from such policies methinks.
it is kinda delightful to see that the open-source Continue.dev plugin fully supports modern MCP (resources, prompts), while GitHub Copilot plugin only supports tool docstrings. Now my continue.dev makes perfect tool calls using small/dumb open source LLMs, while CoPilot fails w/ frontier LLMs 🙃
Continue - Ship faster with Continuous AI
The future of coding isn't writing more code. It's delegating the boring parts, so you can build the interesting stuff
Continue.dev
January 4, 2026 at 5:34 AM
it is kinda delightful to see that the open-source Continue.dev plugin fully supports modern MCP (resources, prompts), while GitHub Copilot plugin only supports tool docstrings. Now my continue.dev makes perfect tool calls using small/dumb open source LLMs, while CoPilot fails w/ frontier LLMs 🙃
Reposted by Carl Boettiger
Excited to launch the new improved Reproducible Code guide from @britishecologicalsociety.org @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social FREE online here! www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/... Amazing work by some very talented ECRs. We hope it’s useful!
December 16, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Excited to launch the new improved Reproducible Code guide from @britishecologicalsociety.org @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social FREE online here! www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/... Amazing work by some very talented ECRs. We hope it’s useful!
Argh! @github.com announces it will start charging even for *self-hosted* runners 😥. resources.github.com/actions/2026...
I have long relied on my self-hosted runners in my teaching to run automated 'reproducibility' checks. (The edu allocation is way too small for my large classes).
I have long relied on my self-hosted runners in my teaching to run automated 'reproducibility' checks. (The edu allocation is way too small for my large classes).
Pricing changes for GitHub Actions
GitHub Actions pricing update: Discover lower runner rates (up to 39% off) following a major re-architecture for faster, more reliable CI/CD.
resources.github.com
December 16, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Argh! @github.com announces it will start charging even for *self-hosted* runners 😥. resources.github.com/actions/2026...
I have long relied on my self-hosted runners in my teaching to run automated 'reproducibility' checks. (The edu allocation is way too small for my large classes).
I have long relied on my self-hosted runners in my teaching to run automated 'reproducibility' checks. (The edu allocation is way too small for my large classes).
Reposted by Carl Boettiger
we released olmo 32b today! ☺️
🐟our largest & best fully open model to-date
🐠right up there w similar size weights-only models from big companies on popular benchmarks
🐡but we used way less compute & all our data, ckpts, code, recipe are free & open
made a nice plot of our post-trained results!✌️
🐟our largest & best fully open model to-date
🐠right up there w similar size weights-only models from big companies on popular benchmarks
🐡but we used way less compute & all our data, ckpts, code, recipe are free & open
made a nice plot of our post-trained results!✌️
March 13, 2025 at 8:42 PM
we released olmo 32b today! ☺️
🐟our largest & best fully open model to-date
🐠right up there w similar size weights-only models from big companies on popular benchmarks
🐡but we used way less compute & all our data, ckpts, code, recipe are free & open
made a nice plot of our post-trained results!✌️
🐟our largest & best fully open model to-date
🐠right up there w similar size weights-only models from big companies on popular benchmarks
🐡but we used way less compute & all our data, ckpts, code, recipe are free & open
made a nice plot of our post-trained results!✌️
Reposted by Carl Boettiger
Great to see you at #COP30, Governor @gavinnewsom.bsky.social!
Magali de Bruyn (R) and McKalee Steen (L) are leading several events @ COP30, including providing recommendations for how Indigenous communities can leverage tech and #DataScience to advance #EnvironmentalStewardship and #Sovereignty.
Magali de Bruyn (R) and McKalee Steen (L) are leading several events @ COP30, including providing recommendations for how Indigenous communities can leverage tech and #DataScience to advance #EnvironmentalStewardship and #Sovereignty.
November 12, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Great to see you at #COP30, Governor @gavinnewsom.bsky.social!
Magali de Bruyn (R) and McKalee Steen (L) are leading several events @ COP30, including providing recommendations for how Indigenous communities can leverage tech and #DataScience to advance #EnvironmentalStewardship and #Sovereignty.
Magali de Bruyn (R) and McKalee Steen (L) are leading several events @ COP30, including providing recommendations for how Indigenous communities can leverage tech and #DataScience to advance #EnvironmentalStewardship and #Sovereignty.
Reposted by Carl Boettiger
This seems important. Current AI models can't read graphs. They "see" what they expect to see, even if the data shows something else.
Introducing bluffbench, a new tool to evaluate how well LLMs actually see data plots.
When we trick LLMs with secret #RStats transformations, they can miss the visual contradiction.
bluffbench helps us measure this "blind spot" in AI coding agents. Learn more: posit.co/blog/introdu...
When we trick LLMs with secret #RStats transformations, they can miss the visual contradiction.
bluffbench helps us measure this "blind spot" in AI coding agents. Learn more: posit.co/blog/introdu...
When plotting, LLMs see what they expect to see - Posit
Data science agents need to accurately read plots even when the content contradicts their expectations. Our testing shows today's LLMs still struggle here.
posit.co
November 19, 2025 at 4:58 PM
This seems important. Current AI models can't read graphs. They "see" what they expect to see, even if the data shows something else.
Wow, rio-stac-io looks awesome! github.com/planetlabs/r...
Anyone have a chance to compare this to the odc-stac approach? ( @mdsumner.bsky.social 👀 ?)
Anyone have a chance to compare this to the odc-stac approach? ( @mdsumner.bsky.social 👀 ?)
GitHub - planetlabs/rio-stac-io: Rasterio extension to open STAC Items and ItemCollections using native GDAL drivers
Rasterio extension to open STAC Items and ItemCollections using native GDAL drivers - GitHub - planetlabs/rio-stac-io: Rasterio extension to open STAC Items and ItemCollections using native GDAL d...
github.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Wow, rio-stac-io looks awesome! github.com/planetlabs/r...
Anyone have a chance to compare this to the odc-stac approach? ( @mdsumner.bsky.social 👀 ?)
Anyone have a chance to compare this to the odc-stac approach? ( @mdsumner.bsky.social 👀 ?)
sad to be missing #jupytercon this week!
But small win, recently made my first PR to JupyterHub fancy-profiles to add support for ARM architecture.
& now I have JupyterHub running on an NVIDIA DGX Spark (via k3s).
Also have CUDA/RAPIDS based image in rocker for python+R envs, rocker/cuda:arm64
But small win, recently made my first PR to JupyterHub fancy-profiles to add support for ARM architecture.
& now I have JupyterHub running on an NVIDIA DGX Spark (via k3s).
Also have CUDA/RAPIDS based image in rocker for python+R envs, rocker/cuda:arm64
November 4, 2025 at 11:07 PM
sad to be missing #jupytercon this week!
But small win, recently made my first PR to JupyterHub fancy-profiles to add support for ARM architecture.
& now I have JupyterHub running on an NVIDIA DGX Spark (via k3s).
Also have CUDA/RAPIDS based image in rocker for python+R envs, rocker/cuda:arm64
But small win, recently made my first PR to JupyterHub fancy-profiles to add support for ARM architecture.
& now I have JupyterHub running on an NVIDIA DGX Spark (via k3s).
Also have CUDA/RAPIDS based image in rocker for python+R envs, rocker/cuda:arm64
Reposted by Carl Boettiger
Raise your hand if you're going to #JupyterCon 🙋♀️ See you there @ucbids.bsky.social! #JupyterCon2025 #DataScience
Thurs, Nov 6 @ 10am PST -> Meet us on Zoom for a live report from #JupyterCon 2025 as part of our OSPO Monthly Knowledge Exchange! 💡🚀
events.berkeley.edu/BIDS/event/3...
@jupyter.org #UCOSPO #OpenSource #OpenScience
events.berkeley.edu/BIDS/event/3...
@jupyter.org #UCOSPO #OpenSource #OpenScience
October 31, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Raise your hand if you're going to #JupyterCon 🙋♀️ See you there @ucbids.bsky.social! #JupyterCon2025 #DataScience
Reposted by Carl Boettiger
🚀 anymap v0.6 is here!
This release comes packed with major new features.
These updates make interactive geospatial analysis in Python smoother and more powerful than ever.
🔗 GitHub: github.com/opengeos/any...
📘 Docs: anymap.dev
#python #geospatial #jupyter #dataviz
This release comes packed with major new features.
These updates make interactive geospatial analysis in Python smoother and more powerful than ever.
🔗 GitHub: github.com/opengeos/any...
📘 Docs: anymap.dev
#python #geospatial #jupyter #dataviz
October 24, 2025 at 5:28 PM
🚀 anymap v0.6 is here!
This release comes packed with major new features.
These updates make interactive geospatial analysis in Python smoother and more powerful than ever.
🔗 GitHub: github.com/opengeos/any...
📘 Docs: anymap.dev
#python #geospatial #jupyter #dataviz
This release comes packed with major new features.
These updates make interactive geospatial analysis in Python smoother and more powerful than ever.
🔗 GitHub: github.com/opengeos/any...
📘 Docs: anymap.dev
#python #geospatial #jupyter #dataviz
Reposted by Carl Boettiger
The 1.4 release of @duckdb.org supports using a DuckDB database to serve vector tiles!
Of course, I had to try this out in R.
Check it out: all 242,000 US Census block groups dynamically served as vector tiles from a DuckDB database, displayed on a MapLibre map from R in Positron.
Of course, I had to try this out in R.
Check it out: all 242,000 US Census block groups dynamically served as vector tiles from a DuckDB database, displayed on a MapLibre map from R in Positron.
October 24, 2025 at 6:19 PM
The 1.4 release of @duckdb.org supports using a DuckDB database to serve vector tiles!
Of course, I had to try this out in R.
Check it out: all 242,000 US Census block groups dynamically served as vector tiles from a DuckDB database, displayed on a MapLibre map from R in Positron.
Of course, I had to try this out in R.
Check it out: all 242,000 US Census block groups dynamically served as vector tiles from a DuckDB database, displayed on a MapLibre map from R in Positron.
Reposted by Carl Boettiger
All 8.1 million US Census blocks.
Visualized smoothly in 3D.
Instant population and housing totals from a lasso selection.
All running seamlessly in the browser, no traditional backend.
While everyone’s talking about AI, it’s an incredible time for geospatial tech.
Visualized smoothly in 3D.
Instant population and housing totals from a lasso selection.
All running seamlessly in the browser, no traditional backend.
While everyone’s talking about AI, it’s an incredible time for geospatial tech.
October 23, 2025 at 8:20 PM
All 8.1 million US Census blocks.
Visualized smoothly in 3D.
Instant population and housing totals from a lasso selection.
All running seamlessly in the browser, no traditional backend.
While everyone’s talking about AI, it’s an incredible time for geospatial tech.
Visualized smoothly in 3D.
Instant population and housing totals from a lasso selection.
All running seamlessly in the browser, no traditional backend.
While everyone’s talking about AI, it’s an incredible time for geospatial tech.
Really thrilled to see the renewed momentum from @ucbids.bsky.social on open source infrastructure! A new partnership with @2i2c.org puts supporting tools, their developers, and their community at the center. cdss.berkeley.edu/news/berkele...
Berkeley Institute for Data Science partners with 2i2c on open source infrastructure
The Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS) has formally partnered with 2i2c, a nonprofit that provides open source support services with shared digital tools and resources for researchers and educ...
cdss.berkeley.edu
October 23, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Really thrilled to see the renewed momentum from @ucbids.bsky.social on open source infrastructure! A new partnership with @2i2c.org puts supporting tools, their developers, and their community at the center. cdss.berkeley.edu/news/berkele...
mid-semester surveys are in! Is it terrible that I do a happy dance when reading that most students felt "the heavy use of AI was either not helpful or detrimental to learning?"
YES dear students, you are smarter than the bots. and now you know it too.
YES dear students, you are smarter than the bots. and now you know it too.
October 22, 2025 at 5:55 AM
mid-semester surveys are in! Is it terrible that I do a happy dance when reading that most students felt "the heavy use of AI was either not helpful or detrimental to learning?"
YES dear students, you are smarter than the bots. and now you know it too.
YES dear students, you are smarter than the bots. and now you know it too.
here we are in the last week of module 2.
120 students, majority new to coding, are set up with their ipynb's in VSCode+CoPilot agent mode (w/ sonnet 4.5, GPT5-codex).
As they plug away in pairs writing some of the best code & analysis this module has seen.
remarkably little use of the bots!
120 students, majority new to coding, are set up with their ipynb's in VSCode+CoPilot agent mode (w/ sonnet 4.5, GPT5-codex).
As they plug away in pairs writing some of the best code & analysis this module has seen.
remarkably little use of the bots!
October 17, 2025 at 3:40 AM
here we are in the last week of module 2.
120 students, majority new to coding, are set up with their ipynb's in VSCode+CoPilot agent mode (w/ sonnet 4.5, GPT5-codex).
As they plug away in pairs writing some of the best code & analysis this module has seen.
remarkably little use of the bots!
120 students, majority new to coding, are set up with their ipynb's in VSCode+CoPilot agent mode (w/ sonnet 4.5, GPT5-codex).
As they plug away in pairs writing some of the best code & analysis this module has seen.
remarkably little use of the bots!
Media still largely misses the RL part of training LLMs. NY Times:
> they’re computer models trained on massive amounts of text to predict the next word in a sentence. What feels like empathy or validation is really just the A.I. chatbot echoing back language patterns that it’s learned.
> they’re computer models trained on massive amounts of text to predict the next word in a sentence. What feels like empathy or validation is really just the A.I. chatbot echoing back language patterns that it’s learned.
September 28, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Media still largely misses the RL part of training LLMs. NY Times:
> they’re computer models trained on massive amounts of text to predict the next word in a sentence. What feels like empathy or validation is really just the A.I. chatbot echoing back language patterns that it’s learned.
> they’re computer models trained on massive amounts of text to predict the next word in a sentence. What feels like empathy or validation is really just the A.I. chatbot echoing back language patterns that it’s learned.
Reposted by Carl Boettiger
NSF GRFP solicitation is finally up. Life Sci deadline extended to Nov 10 but 2nd year grad students no longer eligible www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
September 26, 2025 at 8:00 PM
NSF GRFP solicitation is finally up. Life Sci deadline extended to Nov 10 but 2nd year grad students no longer eligible www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Fantastic piece from @schmidtdse.bsky.social post-doc @lucialayr.bsky.social on handling the emotional side of doing a PhD in climate or ecological modeling blogs.egu.eu/geolog/2025/...
September 26, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Fantastic piece from @schmidtdse.bsky.social post-doc @lucialayr.bsky.social on handling the emotional side of doing a PhD in climate or ecological modeling blogs.egu.eu/geolog/2025/...
Excited to be heading to join the summit @cu-esiil.bsky.social this week!
September 23, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Excited to be heading to join the summit @cu-esiil.bsky.social this week!
Campus reminds us, "If classroom temperatures reach or exceed 82°F for more than 15 minutes:" our first step is:
1. Ensure instructors have taken the Heat Illness Prevention Training in the UC Learning Management System.
teaching.berkeley.edu/resources/gu...
1. Ensure instructors have taken the Heat Illness Prevention Training in the UC Learning Management System.
teaching.berkeley.edu/resources/gu...
Guidance on Instructor Preparedness for Classroom Disruptions and Emergencies | Center for Teaching & Learning
teaching.berkeley.edu
September 22, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Campus reminds us, "If classroom temperatures reach or exceed 82°F for more than 15 minutes:" our first step is:
1. Ensure instructors have taken the Heat Illness Prevention Training in the UC Learning Management System.
teaching.berkeley.edu/resources/gu...
1. Ensure instructors have taken the Heat Illness Prevention Training in the UC Learning Management System.
teaching.berkeley.edu/resources/gu...