On Monday, June 15 to Thursday, June 18, the Computational and Information Systems Lab (CISL) at NSF NCAR will host the Pythia Cook-off 2026 at the Mesa Lab in Boulder, CO. This NSF-funded event focuses on developing Pythia Cookbooks to create open-source resources for the global scientific community. Project Pythia is an education and training hub for the geoscientific Python community.

The hackathon provides a collaborative environment for students, researchers, and professionals to enhance programming and educational skills. Participants may contribute as coders, non-coding contributors, or technical facilitators while building reproducible workflows for the Earth science community. 

The deadline for general registration is Friday, May 22. Applications for travel support must be submitted by Sunday, March 22. For additional information about travel for this event, please visit the Travel Information page.

Content leaders and technical facilitators are also needed! Creative breakout session leaders will mentor a hands-on hackathon developing new or expanded Pythia Cookbooks. Projects should solve a focused scientific/technical problem via a practical, collaborative workflow, resulting in reusable, open cookbook content; share your Earth science open-source workflow ideas in the registration form. We also need technical facilitators with git/GitHub experience for per-group support. Please indicate your interest in either role via the registration form, or contact CISL_Events@ucar.edu with questions.

For more information about the 2026 Cook-off, contact the event organizers at CISL_Events@ucar.edu.