WASHINGTON -- Journalists are invited to attend NASA's first open source software development summit March 29-30 at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT on both days.

The event will bring together engineers, policy makers and members of the open source community. They will discuss challenges within the existing open source policy framework and propose modifications to enhance NASA's development, release and use of software.

Tsengdar Lee, the agency's acting chief technology officer for information technology, Nicholas Skytland, director of NASA's Open Government Initiative, and other participants, will be available for interviews from noon to 1 p.m. on both days.

To register for the event, reporters should contact Cristina LeClerc at 650-604-2303 or cristina.k.leclerc@nasa.gov by 4 p.m. on Monday, March 28. All other inquiries and interview requests should be directed to Jessica Culler at 650-604-4789 or jessica.culler@nasa.gov.

For information about the summit, including speaker biographies and the agenda, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/open/source

For more information about Ames, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ames