.. Generated on Sun Oct  2 14:27:59 EDT 2011
.. Do not edit directly

Quotes from NIH R01 grant proposal letters of recommendation
============================================================

.. note::
   Only the quotes which were approved for redistribution by the original
   authors are included.



.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Alfonso Caramazza
   :affiliation: Director, Center for Mind/Brain sciences -CIMEC-, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
   :date: 2011-06-27
   :tags:  lofs
   :group: Research institutions

   NeuroDebian is an effective solution to support a heterogeneous working environment. [...] NeuroDebian is useful also for education purpose.


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Thomas J. Grabowski, Jr.
   :affiliation: Director, Integrated Brain Imaging Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
   :date: 2010-09-16
   :tags:  lofs, speed, frontier
   :group: Research institutions

   [...] software for neuroimage processing evolves rapidly and heterogeneously. It is a challenge for research organizations to remain current  [...] In this context we have begun to use the NeuroDebian repository  [...] We hope that this service will continue with an expanded scope  [...]


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Daniel Y. Kimberg
   :affiliation: Core Director, Data Processing Facility, Center for Functional Neuroimaging, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
   :date: 2010-09-08
   :tags:  lofs, software distribution, quality, reproducibility, practices, impact
   :group: Research institutions

   The approach taken with NeuroDebian is plainly the most appropriate approach to software distribution for the dominant platform in brain image analysis, and I have great confidence that this project will be a major asset to the neuroscience community in facilitating the distribution of stable software, improving the reliability and replicability of analyses, and in helping to improve software development practices.


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Bennett Landman
   :affiliation: Director of the Center for Computational Imaging, Vanderbilt University Institute of Image Science, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
   :date: 2010-08-31
   :tags:  lofs, software distribution, quality
   :group: Research institutions

   NeuroDebian provides an excellent platform for software distribution [...]


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Barak A. Pearlmutter
   :affiliation: Hamilton Institute, NUI Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
   :date: 2010-09-07
   :tags:  lofs, software distribution, sharing, money, speed
   :group: Research institutions

   Having common software stacks makes sharing much easier, potentially (and silently) saving enormous amounts of money and effort and dramatically increasing efficiently and productivity in not one, but many labs. NeuroDebian is of particular utility in these regards.


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Russell A. Poldrack
   :affiliation: Director, Imaging Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA
   :date: 2010-08-31
   :tags:  lofs, breadth, impact
   :group: Research institutions

   I think that the idea of a common platform that supports a broad range of computational needs for neuroscientists is wonderful, and I am very impressed with the work that you have done so far in the NeuroDebian project.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Bertrand Thirion
   :affiliation: Head of the Parietal research group at Neurospin, Gif sur Yvette, France
   :date: 2010-09-08
   :tags:  lofs, breadth
   :group: Research institutions

   [NeuroDebian is] extremely useful in providing state of the art solutions to numerous standard problems encountered in the analysis of our complex data.


.. quote::
   :author: Tiziano Zito
   :affiliation: IT system administrator, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
   :date: 2010-09-02
   :tags:  lofs, software distribution, frontier
   :group: Research institutions

   NeuroDebian project made our library available to an unprecedented number of users  [...] as a system administrator, I rely on NeuroDebian for setting up and keeping up-to-date the software installed on the numerous clients and servers used by more than 150 scientists


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Todd F. Heatherton
   :affiliation: Lincoln Feline Professor, Psychology and Brain Sciences Department
   :date: 2011-06-22
   :tags:  lofs, dartmouth, vm
   :group: Participating institutions

   We have found the NeuroDebian VM so easy to us and so simple to maintain that we're currently in the process of converting some of our workstations to full NeuroDebian installations


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Peter U. Tse
   :affiliation: Associate Professor, Psychology and Brain Sciences Department
   :date: 2007-12-31
   :tags:  lofs, dartmouth, team
   :group: Participating institutions

   [...] vibrant NeuroDebian team  [...] has been a great asset to the Psychology and Brain sciences department at Dartmouth. On multiple occasions they have provided support and advice beyond the scope of the NeuroDebian effort, showing their knowledge of methodological developments in the neuroscience field and making us aware of recent technological advances we could benefit from in our research.


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Stefan Pollmann
   :affiliation: 
   :date: 2010-09-02
   :tags:  lofs, money
   :group: Participating institutions

   My lab is using NeuroDebian for almost five years now  [...] The minimal maintenance cost allow us to operate our research and computing infrastructure  [...] even without a dedicated system administrator. Consequently, these resources could be invested into scientific personnel instead.


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Brian Avants
   :affiliation: Research Assistant Professor of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
   :date: 2010-09-16
   :tags:  lofs, practices, standardization, mentorship,
		   dissemination, impact, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   The NeuroDebian team taught me a great deal about how to systematize software development for reliable dissemination [...] This speaks very highly of the deep skillset and commitment to user support represented in the NeuroDebian project, which will have high impact on the field and help standardize both the analysis and the interpretation of neuroimaging data.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Matthew Brett
   :affiliation: Specialist researcher, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, USA
   :date: 2010-09-02
   :tags:  lofs, practices, team, sharing, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   [...] your team are ideally placed to make this system work. I have worked with Yaroslav Halchenko and Michael Hanke.  [...] Their record on working together as a team, and individually, is easy to find, and speaks for itself.  Their demonstrated combination of seemingly inexhaustible energy, openness and skill has been of enormous benefit to our own project and community.  


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Gene Cooperman
   :affiliation: College of Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University, Boston, USA
   :date: 2011-06-21
   :tags:  lofs, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   [...] we have benefited from the NeuroDebian team through their mentoring and direct efforts to improve the DMTCP software for wider distribution.


.. quote::
   :author: Sebastian Eichelbaum
   :affiliation: OpenWalnut project, Image and Signal Processing Group, Institute of Computer Science, University of Leipzig, Germany
   :date: 2011-06-30
   :tags:  lofs, mentorship, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   We are currently preparing our first software-release in NeuroDebian and found it to be easy and straight-forward with a great support.


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Bruce Fischl
   :affiliation: Director, Computational Core at Martinos Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA
   :date: 2010-09-10
   :tags:  lofs, perspective, software distribution, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   Having FreeSurfer integrated into the Debian operating system by the NeuroDebian team would have enormous benefits for us, and for the thousands of users of FreeSurfer across the world.


.. quote::
   :author: Stephan Gerhard
   :affiliation: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
   :date: 2011-06-21
   :tags:  lofs, support, Debian, open science, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   The Debian project provides the scientific community with a truly universal operating system. The breadth and quality of its community-driven development and technical support is superior to many other available commercial alternatives. It provides a sound basis for the open science movement.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Satrajit Ghosh
   :affiliation: Research scientist, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
   :date: 2011-06-13
   :tags:  lofs, software distribution, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   In creating a source repository for distribution of common neuroimaging tools, NeuroDebian has filled a gaping void. It is an incredibly useful resource that we have been relying on at MIT for installation of software.


.. quote::
   :author: Valentin Haenel
   :affiliation: Psignifit and pyoptical developer, Modellierung Kognitiver Prozesse, Technische Universität, Berlin, Germany
   :date: 2010-09-17
   :tags:  lofs, reproducibility, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   [ [...] The] only way to conduct reliable and reproducible science is to use open source software [...]. NeuroDebian is by far the most advanced undertaking for such a scientific approach in the neuroscience community.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Thies Jochimsen
   :affiliation: Post-doctoral researcher, Medical Physics Group, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany
   :date: 2010-09-02
   :tags:  lofs, team, software distribution, mentorship, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   [...] distributing the software via NeuroDebian generates valuable feedback which is indispensable for the development of free software. When working with the NeuroDebian team in the past, I have found their members to be very cooperative,    target-oriented and responsive.


.. quote::
   :author: Mario Kleiner
   :affiliation: Dipl. Inf., Psychtoolbox lead developer, Department for Cognitive and Computational Psychophysics, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany
   :date: 2011-06-21
   :tags:  lofs, vm, contributions, practices, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   We find the approach taken by NeuroDebian and the progress it made so far very pleasant and promising.  [...] The NeuroDebian team helped us to improve the quality of our software and of some of our processes by review, constructive suggestions and even software patches.  The availability of the NeuroDebian Virtual Machine was instrumental for fast porting of the Psychtoolbox to a 64 bit Linux environment.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Gabriele Lohmann
   :affiliation: Lipsia lead developer, Department of Neurophysics, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
   :date: 2010-09-13
   :tags:  lofs, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   It [NeuroDebian] has been and continues to be of great value in all of our projects [...]


.. quote::
   :author: Valerio Lucio
   :affiliation:  Manager Information Systems, Center for Brain Imaging, New York University, New York City, USA
   :date: 2010-09-01
   :tags:  lofs, contributions, Debian, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   The dinifti tool was one of the first to appear in Debian and ever since it's inclusion in the distribution, I have received invaluable feedback from the Debian community 


.. quote::
   :author: Sebastiaan Mathôt
   :affiliation: OpenSesame lead developer, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
   :date: 2011-07-29
   :tags:  lofs, software distribution, mentorship, Debian, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   The NeuroDebian team has helped me to make my software (OpenSesame) available to the wider public in a much more professional fashion than I would have been able to do for myself.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Eilif Muller
   :affiliation: Post-doctoral researcher, Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
   :date: 2010-09-09
   :tags:  lofs, reproducibility, standardization, breadth, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   I am constantly aware that software packaging and supporting user needs on diverse platforms represents a severe burden for developers. The NeuroDebian software platform addresses these problems for a good fraction of production environments in the field, while contributing to research reproducibility through software standardization.  


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Jonathan Peirce
   :affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
   :date: 2010-09-06
   :tags:  lofs, money, impact, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   Having such a group of experts [NeuroDebian developers] that search for open-source software solutions, refine them and then make them trivially easy for users to install and try out is of absolutely invaluable benefit to the research community and to the funding bodies that would, otherwise, be paying much larger sums in commercial software licensing fees.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Fernando Perez
   :affiliation: IPython developer, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, USA
   :date: 2010-09-08
   :tags:  lofs, contributions, team, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   Their [NeuroDebian developers] commitment to strongly tested, validated and documented tools for computational-based research in neuroscience is exemplary, and we owe them a great debt of gratitude for the contributions they have already made [...]


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Ariel Rokem
   :affiliation: NiTime developer, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, USA
   :date: 2010-09-15
   :tags:  lofs, frontier, contributions, speed, standardization,
		   dissemination, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   NeuroDebian is playing a key role in the creation of an ``eco-system'' of open-source solutions for neuroscience  [...] The standards and practices disseminated by the NeuroDebian project allowed me to start using this tool [PsychoPy] efficiently and rapidly and to contribute back to the project within a few months.


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Per B. Sederberg
   :affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
   :date: 2010-09-16
   :tags:  lofs, impact, quality, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   [...] NeuroDebian will undoubtedly have a large impact on the quality of neuroscience research, both directly and indirectly, by making almost every known software package related to neuroscience work available in a stable and secure environment and broadening the standard set of techniques researchers can employ. 


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Stephen M. Smith
   :affiliation: Associate Director, Centre for Functional Magnetic, Resonance Imaging of the Brain University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
   :date: 2010-09-01
   :tags:  lofs, contributions, support, Debian, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   Since 2007 we completely rely on the NeuroDebian project to provide users of the Debian/Ubuntu platform with FSL software packages and corresponding technical support.  [...] we have received a continuous stream of bug fixes and improvements that have been developed by members of the Debian community.  [...] we were able to benefit from work of people that would not otherwise contribute to the development of FSL – without any additional investment of my lab, but solely due to FSL’s presence in the Debian archive.  


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Gaël Varoquaux
   :affiliation: Parietal project, INRIA, Neurospin research center, Gif sur Yvette, France
   :date: 2010-09-01
   :tags:  lofs, reproducibility, dissemination, upstream
   :group: Research software projects

   The availability of a common platform [NeuroDebian] for many different neuroimaging software solutions makes it much easier to compare solutions and pick the tool of choice for a given research problem.


.. quote::
   :author: Patrik Andersson
   :affiliation: Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands
   :date: 2011-06-15
   :tags:  lofs, vm
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   I have been using NeuroDebian for my work on multivariate classification of fMRI data  [...] It is of great value, because I have access to both Windows and Debian OS on my laptop, where I do all my analysis.


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Hiroyuki Akama
   :affiliation: Associate Professor, Graduate School of Decision Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
   :date: 2011-06-15
   :tags:  lofs, vm
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   I am a heavy user of NeuroDebian-Virtual Machine on Windows 64-bit platform.


.. quote::
   :author: Paolo Avesani
   :affiliation: Neuroinformatics Laboratory, Center for Mind/Brain sciences -CIMEC-, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
   :date: 2010-09-15
   :tags:  lofs, money
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   It [NeuroDebian] is of great advantage for the management of the computers of the lab because NeuroDebian allows to reduce the system administration costs.


.. quote::
   :author: John A. Clithero
   :affiliation: Ph.D. student, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
   :date: 2010-09-08
   :tags:  lofs, support
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   Both the software and online support forums provided by NeuroDebian have been invaluable for my machine-learning studies of fMRI data.


.. quote::
   :author: Prof. Jodene Goldenring Fine
   :affiliation:  Department of Counseling, Education Psychology, and Special Education, Michigan State University, USA
   :date: 2011-06-18
   :tags:  lofs, vm, quality, support, speed
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   [...] I couldn't believe my great luck when after just an hour or so I had a complete [NeuroDebian] system running and my research was back on track.  [...] Your service and support are critical to keeping researchers effectively working on their research, rather than on maintenance issues that negatively affect our productivity. [...] I was working on versions of AFNI and FSL that were several generations behind  [...] Now I will always be up-to-date. [...] Because I am now running a virtual machine, I can keep my data files [with me].


.. quote::
   :author: Scott Gorlin
   :affiliation: Ph.D. student, Department of Brain and Cognitive Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
   :date: 2010-09-16
   :tags:  lofs, speed, quality
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   I am writing this letter in support of the NeuroDebian team, whose efforts at producing high-quality free, open-source software have been invaluable to my graduate research.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Attila Krajcsi
   :affiliation: Lecturer, Cognitive Psychology Department, Eötvös University, Hungary
   :date: 2010-09-06
   :tags:  lofs, speed
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   [NeuroDebian is] an extremely time saving solution


.. quote::
   :author: Jonas Kubilius
   :affiliation: Ph.D. student, Laboratories of Biological and Experimental Psychology, K. U. Leuven, Belgium
   :date: 2011-06-18
   :tags:  lofs, reproducibility, vm, impact, sharing, open science
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   [...] NeuroDebian allows both researchers and the public to easily replicate the entire experimental procedure, a feature rendered difficult or often impossible by proprietary software packages that most scientists rely on nowadays.  I have been increasingly using NeuroDebian in a Virtual Machine because Linux operating systems are not supported by the university.  [...] Moreover, powered by NeuroDebian’s openness, I see a reason to publish the full code of our experimental and analysis scripts. [NeuroDebian] makes the goal of open science finally viable.


.. quote::
   :author: Kaunitz Lisandro Nicolas
   :affiliation: Center for Mind/Brain sciences -CIMEC-, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
   :date: 2010-09-09
   :tags:  lofs
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   [We] find it [NeuroDebian] to be the best tool for running classifiers on our neuroimaging data (EEG and MEG).


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Emanuele Olivetti
   :affiliation: Center for Information Technology, Bruno Kessler Foundation, Trento, Italy
   :date: 2010-09-09
   :tags:  lofs, speed
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   NeuroDebian has a major impact within our laboratory as quick and rich research environment for all our projects.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Giuseppe Pagnoni
   :affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
   :date: 2010-09-07
   :tags:  lofs
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   We consider NeuroDebian to be a truly commendable effort and an invaluable asset for the neuroimaging community.  


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Felipe Picon
   :affiliation: Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry of Federal University of Rio Grande do Su, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
   :date: 2011-06-14
   :tags:  lofs, ease
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   We have been relying on NeuroDebian  [...] for our work on Adult ADHD neuroimaging and find it to be very useful.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Bhavani Shankara Bagepally
   :affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health And Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India
   :date: 2011-06-15
   :tags:  lofs, ease
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   Neuroscience software  [...] easily available at a single point with hastle free installation and easy updating.


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Daqiang Sun
   :affiliation: Post-doctoral researcher, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
   :date: 2010-09-15
   :tags:  lofs, speed
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   It [NeuroDebian] is and will continue to be invaluable in our multiple NIH-funded research projects.  NeuroDebian nicely takes care of the burden of software deployment and management on my computers and allows me to concentrate on the imaging analysis itself [...]


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. Roberto Viviani
   :affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy III, University of Ulm, Germany
   :date: 2010-09-15
   :tags:  lofs, dissemination
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   Our research would be considerably more difficult without necessary software solutions transparently provided and supported by the NeuroDebian project.  


.. quote::
   :author: Dr. C. J. Werner
   :affiliation: Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dept. of Neurology, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany
   :date: 2011-06-15
   :tags:  lofs, vm, teaching, dissemination
   :group: Individual laboratories and researchers

   [NeuroDebian] makes my lectures on neuroimaging much more convenient and ``hands-on'' by deploying virtual machines on student's laptops [...] a quick, elegant and cost-free solution, enabling students to work on real fMRI data in no time.

