Many users of the OpenMDAO framework have interacted with Keith Marsteller in one way or another over the last 11 years. Keith has decided to move on to other projects and interests and, though the development team is sad to see him go, we wish him all the best in his new endeavors.
If you’ve used OpenMDAO at all, you’ve very likely felt Keith’s influence even if you didn’t realize it. He has managed our development and release process, led the construction of our entire CI system, played a key role in defining the structure our docs, built our web-site, and generally pitched in to keep the overall development process running smoothly all the time. For users he often helped solve installation issues and provided guidance on how to build plugins.
Those who know Keith, even a little bit, know of his fondness of running up hills — the bigger the better, but he’ll do repeats if he has to! Gradient based optimization is sometimes referred to as “climbing the hill”, and so in honor of Keith’s time on the team we are pleased to announce that Keith has been awarded the first ever, OpenMDAO Hill Climb Award. This award is given to those who display stubborn determination in the face of huge hills (literal or metaphorical) that block their path, and climb to the top no matter what obstacles lie in their way. Keith earned this award by sticking with the project through over 10 years of development, three re-writes, 17000 different CI systems, 28 docs re-factors, an unexpected white-board marker battle, and far too many really bad inside jokes.
Keith, we’ll miss you, but we look forward to hearing about your new hill climb adventures in the future.
