About us

Science has a problem: knowledge hoarding and anti-cooperative momentum caused by an out-dated intellectual property model and legacy scientific institutions is robbing humanity of important advances in medicine, clean energy, and other areas of scientific development. Legacy infrastructure and funding models prevent some of our brightest and most motivated minds from being able to tackle humanity's most urgent needs. Locked out of the scientific process, the public's trust of science is eroded by a growing knowledge and accessibility gap. Without the ability to participate in and understand the scientific process, the public learns to view it with distrust and apathy. As humanity stares down increasing existential threats, some of which are already coming to fruition, the system we need to rely on most is losing its credibility and functionality. We need science more than ever, but science also needs us to right its broken internal mechanisms. More specifically, it needs you.

The Science Commons Initiative is a non-profit collaboration aimed at increasing the public's access to and participation in the scientific process. We find, spotlight, and fund technological and other strategic infrastructure to help scientists and researchers solve some of the world's most pressing problems, with an emphasis on engaging the public. We seek to make long-lasting changes to the way science is produced and communicated so that it is more open, more democratic, and more optimized to benefit the public.

People

Who is behind The Science Commons Initiative?

Board members

Marcus Belcastro (Vice President)

Computer Scientist, Software Developer and Founder. Been working with BOINC and scientific computing for 5+ years.

Alexander Bryan (Secretary)

Alex is a long-time BOINC user and science enthusiast and has made several python tools for BOINC crunching.

Paul W. Jensen

Long-time Gridcoin developer, father, and BOINC contributor with a passion for science and technology. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-jensen-355a081247/

Vitalii Koshura

  • Senior Software Engineer with 11 years in tech industry.
  • Core developer and maintainer of BOINC since 2015.
  • At The SCI is responsible for BOINC-related decisions. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aenbleidd

Warren T. B. Lucas (Treasurer)

Currently a Lead Solution Architect at a small tech firm. He specializes in data management and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) working with Fortune 100 companies on process improvement and risk management. Warren has also been a community contributor for GridCoin for over 6 years through podcasts and community engagement.

James C. Owens

  • Lead core developer for Gridcoin (https://gridcoin.us/), the cryptocurrency that rewards contributions to BOINC and other distiributed computing projects, since 2019.
  • Founding board member of the Velocity Network Foundation (https://www.velocitynetwork.foundation/foundation), a non-profit initiative to implement employee credentials on the blockchain using a self-sovereign model.
  • Former President and CEO of Cisive, one of the top global background screening companies (retired 12/2022).

Levi Rybalov

  • Technical contributor to Gridcoin
  • Mechanism design at Hansa

Jonathan Starr (president)

Jonathan uses technologies such as permissionless DLT architecture and open economic networks to connect the public with the system of science while accelerating the discovery of replicable and reproducible knowledge

OFFICERS

Ashley Reese

  • Author of BOINC dedicated Linux distribution
  • Senior System Engineer at Seznam.cz