Expression of Interest in MDAnalysis for GSoC 2024

[Joshua B Varghese]

Dear MDAnalysis Team,

My name is Joshua Varghese, currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Networking and Software Engineering (Honours). I am writing to express my keen interest in participating in the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) program with MDAnalysis in 2024.

After thoroughly reviewing the detailed information provided on your GSoC 2023 page, I am captivated by the exciting opportunities your organization offers for contributors interested in molecular dynamics simulations and related analyses. The outlined projects, coupled with the prospect of mentorship and a collaborative environment, align perfectly with my passion for coding and my interest in this field.

While I am aware that participation in GSoC is not guaranteed, I am enthusiastic about learning and contributing to MDAnalysis, regardless of the outcome. I am committed to immersing myself in the MDAnalysis community, understanding its dynamics, and actively participating in discussions and development processes.

I firmly believe that contributing outside of GSoC 2024 will not only enhance my skills but also enable me to make meaningful contributions to the MDAnalysis project. I am prepared to familiarize myself with your codebase, address existing issues, and contribute to enhancing documentation or writing tests as needed.

I am eager to embark on this exciting journey with MDAnalysis.

Best regards,

Joshua

Linked in:-https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabvarghese/

Github:-https://github.com/joshuabvarghese

[Project Manager MDAnalysis]

Hi Joshua,

Welcome to MDAnalysis, and thank you for expressing your interest in the project! As you noted, while we are planning to apply for the GSoC 2024 program, it is not guaranteed that we will be selected by Google as an organization. No matter what happens, we of course welcome you to start learning MDAnalysis and contributing outside of GSoC!

MDAnalysis is a Python package for analyzing molecular simulations data. We have a few introductory videos that can give you an idea of what problems MDAnalysis is solving. If you haven't used MDAnalysis before, the best way to get started is to get your hands dirty following the MDAnalysis User Guide. We suggest starting with installing the MDAnalysis package and going through the Quick Start Guide. Other sections of the User Guide go into many more details about the different capabilities of MDAnalysis. 

Once you are a bit familiar with the MDAnalysis package, you can look at the sections of the User Guide explaining how to contribute. There are detailed explanations on how to set up a developer environment and how to contribute to the MDAnalysis codebase. This is a great starting point for contributing to MDAnalysis and trying to solve some of the open issues.

Hopefully this will help you get started, but please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. You can also post on our new GitHub Discussions forum or Discord server (join using this invite link) to interact with other MDAnalysis users and developers. 

We look forward to your contribution.

All the best,
Jenna