All,
I am writing to inform you about a critical situation facing the Open Source Lab. Over the past several years, we have been operating at a deficit due to a decline in corporate donations. While the College of Engineering (CoE) has generously filled this gap, recent changes in university funding have led to a significant reduction in CoE’s budget. As a result, our current funding model is no longer sustainable and CoE needs to find ways to cut programs.
Earlier this week, I was informed that unless we secure $250,000 in committed funds, the OSL will be forced to shut down later this year. I have reached out to our largest corporate sponsor and they are working to increase their support as we update our contract.
Additionally, the university plans to deprecate the data center in the long term where all of our hosting is currently located. Much of their hosting has been moved to the cloud or the state data center, and they lack the funds to replace the aging UPS/HVAC systems. I am actively seeking a new location to host our systems, but finding suitable data center space on campus has proven to be extremely challenging.
If any of you can assist or connect me with potential supporters, please reach out as soon as possible. I need to provide my boss with an update on any funding changes by tomorrow morning. My immediate need is securing additional funding, the data center situation can be worked on later. Your commitment is crucial for us to move forward.
I will be creating blog post on our website soon outlining these changes as well.
Thank you for your continued support!