Reflections and Update on Time at CDL from Becky Grady

Cross-posted from the DMPTool blog, where it was originally published on September 25, 2026.

Over the past few years, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work at the California Digital Library (CDL), more specifically within the UC Curation Center (UC3). I joined as a product manager for the DMP Tool coming from the video game industry, so I had a lot to learn. I had some experience with open science and data management from my time as PhD student at UC Irvine, but the intricacies of data management plans (DMPs), persistent identifiers, FAIR data, and open science infrastructure were mostly new to me. I’ve learned so much in the past few years about all the critical infrastructure behind managing and sharing research data that can often be invisible to those on the outside.

Due to personal circumstances, I am sadly stepping away from my role at CDL, but I know that the DMP Tool is in great hands and that this important work will continue on. One of the best parts of my job was experiencing what a special place CDL/UC3 is, and what a difference it makes to work at a place like this, such as:

• Focus on the mission: Across UC3, our goal is to figure out how we can most positively impact the important scientific research data curation needs for researchers across the University of California and beyond, prioritizing what is best for open science and not just what will grow our userbase.
• Small team, big impact: With a team of just 15 people, UC3 is able to maintain multiple high priority tools like DMP Tool, Merritt, EZID, and more, as well as collaborate with many other organizations for initiatives that have worldwide impact such as ROR, COMET, and Make Data Count.
• Collaborative, supportive environment: I’ve seen firsthand how hard everyone works to make it a place that isn’t hard to work for – where everyone freely takes time when they need it, supports each others’ health and wellness, and demonstrates care to fellow employees at every step.
• Deep care for products: Despite ensuring that people don’t work too long hours or feel pressure to overburden themselves, CDL is still filled with people that are passionate about what they’re working on, believing in the mission and services we put out.

I’ve been fortunate to get to work on many big initiatives and projects during my time here. A few that I am proud of include:

• Managing the DMP Tool rebuild: It’s been an exciting few years for the small but mighty DMP Tool team, keeping the current tool up to date and running while developing the rebuilt tool for the future. I wasn’t around for the start of this project and I’m sorry to not be around for the end of it, but I know it will be worth the wait and will help make DMPs more machine-actionable than ever.
• Seeing through the MAP Pilot Project: Working with so many great institutions, both during remote meetings and in-person site visits, gave me a ton of insight about the DMP Tool API and machine-actionable DMPs more broadly. Seeing how these workflows are used on campuses, as well as the creative prototypes developed, was critical in guiding development of the new API and rebuilt DMP Tool.
• Co-chairing the RDA API Group: This international working group with the Research Data Alliance brought together representatives from services like DMP Tool all over the world, with the goal of developing a shared API specification we would all support. It was a pleasure to work with this dedicated group on this collaborative vision, successfully creating an actionable output that will benefit the whole ecosystem.
• Supporting DMP Chef/DMP Bridge: Partnering with the FAIR Data Innovations Hub has allowed us to explore how AI technology can assist with the parts of DMPs that can be automated, while keeping important content and decisions made by researchers. I’m excited to see how these open-source tools develop to support both the DMP Tool and other services.

With all these positive experiences, it can’t be ignored that there have also been recent challenges for scientific research in the United States. In the past year, there have been near constant disruptions to the federal funding and scientific infrastructure that we all rely on. We’ve seen grants canceled and reinstated, rules updated and reverted, policies changed and changed again, often with little notice or justification. This includes both major changes that impact the overall scientific industry, like the proposed OMB rule that UC3 spoke against along with thousands of others, as well as more specific changes that impact DMPs but could have many downstream consequences to how data is managed and shared. I know that UC3 will continue to be at the forefront of adapting to these changes as well as advocating for what is needed for best practice science. All the positive qualities I’ve seen here make this a well-equipped group to lead the way in meeting the evolving needs of the scientific community.

In all my community interactions, I’ve seen firsthand how much people appreciate and support the DMP tool and the work of UC3, and have felt lucky to be part of this team. Whether it’s presenting a major update at a conference or answering a user support ticket, it’s been an honor to contribute to this project for the time that I’ve been here. I will miss the team, the community, and all my colleagues at all of CDL, but I look forward to all the bright things to come!