Merge pull request #387 from camipacifici/main

Cycle 4 Funding: Specreduce Project Manager

Author: eteq

finance/proposal-calls/cycle4/specreduce_pm.md

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+### Title
+
+Specreduce Project Manager
+
+### Project Team
+
+Kyle Conroy, Kelle Cruz, Patrick Ogle, Camilla Pacifici, Tim Pickering,
+Lee Quick, Clare Shanahan, Erik Tollerud, Kyle Westfall.
+
+### Project Description
+
+Coordinate the development for Specreduce with focus on the architecture 
+and framework of the package. 
+
+### Project / Work
+
+Developing the next-generation spectroscopic reduction, analysis, and visualization tools
+has long been on the [Astropy Roadmap](https://github.com/astropy/astropy-project/blob/main/roadmap/roadmap.md), 
+but progress has been slow.
+The Specreduce package currently sees contribution by a few software developers 
+scattered in different places. 
+Unfortunately, the organization is not efficient, architectural discussions are rerely
+conclusive, and pull requests remain unaddressed for months.
+
+The majority of the development at the moment is in the hands of Pickering at Steward Observatory and 
+Shanahan and Conroy at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Pacifici is a Project
+Scientist for JWST at STScI. Pacifici has experience in project management having coordinated the work of the 
+development team at STScI since 2020, but they are not a software developer.
+Ogle is a Scientist and spectroscopy expert. Quick is the data analysis tools Branch Manager at STScI.
+Tollerud, Conroy, and Pickering have been involved in architectural and framework discussions, 
+but none of them can devote enough time to the project to converge on decisions. 
+Cruz and Westfall have been helping to bring interested parties together and to facilitate discussions.
+
+Here is a list of specreduce improvements and new features to be tackled in the future:
+- proper error propagation during spectral extraction,
+- build the remaining infrastructure to support wavelength calibration,
+- build the infrastructure to support flux calibration,
+- include an additional extraction method based on PSF weighting.
+
+The Project Manager we are planning to hire should be a senior software engineer with
+experience in spectroscopy. They will push the project forward by:
+- integrating the efforts of folks based at different istitutions and with different interests
+([JWST data analysis](https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-post-pipeline-data-analysis/jwst-data-analysis-software-packages),
+[PypeIt](https://pypeit.readthedocs.io/en/release/),
+[DRAGONS](https://www.gemini.edu/observing/phase-iii/reducing-data/dragons-data-reduction-software), etc.)
+- proposing solutions for the architectural challanges,
+- reviewing pull requests,
+- providing test data.
+They will also contribute significantly to the code and help craft the next set
+of priorities in collaboration with the team.
+
+The hiring committee will be composed by Cruz, Pacifici, Pickering, and Westfall, who will be able
+to judge on project management, coding, and community engagement abilities.
+
+### Approximate Budget
+
+For an independent contractor, 36 hours a month (~1 day a week) for 12 months at $150/hour = $64,800.
+
+The minimum viable funding would be 18 hours a month (~1/2 day a week) for 12 months at $150/hour = $32,400.
+
+### Period of Performance
+
+Initial contract will be for one year. Assuming the software engineer is successful in the role, we anticipate needing 2 years of effort.