NetLogo foundation
Uri Wilensky
NetLogo Seeks Founding Executive Director
The NetLogo project seeks a founding executive director (Sr. Project Administrator) to help develop an organizational structure to cultivate the ecosystem of NetLogo users and contributors. The organization exists to maintain and develop the NetLogo software and grow its community of computational modelers. The initial term for this position is through 8/31/2025.
The NetLogo project was founded by Professor Uri Wilensky in the late 1990s and has two core missions: 1) to democratize computational thinking and computational modeling education, and 2) to enable natural and social scientists to use agent-based modeling in their work. Our core product, NetLogo, is a groundbreaking platform that enables learners of all ages to explore complex systems, experiment with simulations, and develop critical problem-solving skills. NetLogo is also the leading platform used by scientists to construct agent-based models. A large number of scientific articles have been based on research using NetLogo (more than 20,000), and the number of such articles published per year continues to grow. The NetLogo project also supports a number of related software products built around NetLogo to facilitate educational and scientific goals. NetLogo and related software are free and opensource.
To date, the development of the NetLogo family of products has been funded primarily by academic research grants (NSF, NIH, etc.) to the Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling (CCL) at Northwestern University. The CCL is led by Professor Wilensky and includes other affiliated professors, two full-time software developers, one half-time software developer, PhD students and post-doctoral researchers who contribute to the development of NetLogo in various ways. The development of NetLogo in this academic environment has been highly successful for over 20 years, but a revised organizational structure will help ensure NetLogo’s future sustainability.
Recently the NetLogo Project received an NSF grant from the new POSE program (Pathways to Open-Source Ecosystems) aimed at creating a sustainable organizational structure and ecosystem to ensure the longevity of NetLogo. The founding executive director of the new organization will work closely with the core NetLogo team at the CCL and with partners around the world towards these goals:
- Create the new organizational structure and provide strategic leadership and vision during the shift in governance and beyond.
- Drive growth and sustainability through fundraising, partnerships, grants, and other revenue sources. Fundraising will be a major part of the executive director’s role, at least until other revenue sources are well developed. The POSE grant provides funding for 2 years of the executive director’s salary. In the second year of the job, the organization needs to be bringing in enough revenue to pay half of this salary, and in the third year, to fully pay the executive director’s salary as well as portions of the salaries of other team members. Over the next 5-10 years, the goal is for the NetLogo project to no longer rely primarily on academic research grants for the salaries of any core team members which includes, at a minimum, the executive director and 2-3 full time developers.
- Cultivate an open-source ecosystem of users making contributions to the NetLogo project including code, agent-based models, educational materials, and associated computational tools.
- Cultivate relationships with educators, researchers, and policymakers to promote the adoption of agent-based modeling in science and in education.
Required Qualifications:
- Passion for computational science and education, and a commitment to the mission of NetLogo.
- Leadership experience, ideally in nonprofit management, educational technology, or related fields.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to inspire and mobilize diverse stakeholders.
- Demonstrated success in strategic planning and program development.
· 5 years program/project administration or other relevant experience.
Desired qualifications:
- Demonstrated success in fundraising.
- Experience with computational modeling, science and technology education, or related disciplines.
Target hiring range for this position will be between $85,000-$105,000 per year. Offered salary will be determined by the applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.
Start date is as soon as possible. To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and any relevant materials to POSE...@ccl.northwestern.edu. Application review will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.
Since the new organization is not yet founded, the executive director will initially be an employee of Northwestern University. Candidates who can work on site are preferred, but there may be options for the position to be remote or partially remote.
Northwestern University is in an attractive lakefront community adjacent to Chicago. For more information about the McCormick School of Engineering and the School of Education and Social Policy, please visit https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/ and http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/.
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Uri Wilensky
Lorraine H. Morton chaired Professor
Northwestern University