Expanding Mentorship Horizons
The Rust Project has built a strong tradition of nurturing new contributors through mentorship initiatives. After successfully participating in Google Summer of Code (GSoC) for three consecutive years—including the current cycle—and previously taking part in OSPP, the project is now broadening its scope. We are excited to announce that Rust will join the Outreachy program starting with the May 2026 cohort.
Each mentorship program has unique eligibility criteria tailored to different audiences and goals. Outreachy focuses on providing remote internships in open source to individuals from backgrounds that face underrepresentation, systemic bias, or discrimination in the tech industry where they reside. To learn more about the program, visit the Outreachy website.
What Makes Outreachy Different from Google Summer of Code?
While Outreachy shares some similarities with GSoC, several key distinctions set it apart:
- Application sequence: Unlike GSoC, Outreachy applicants must first apply to the overall program before they can apply to specific communities like Rust.
- Required contributions: GSoC often encourages but does not mandate contributions before applying. Outreachy, however, has a dedicated period during which contributions are required to be considered for selection.
- Selection process: After submitting an application similar to GSoC, Outreachy community mentors evaluate candidates based on their application and demonstrated contributions.
- Stipend source: For GSoC, Google generously covers contributor stipends and overhead costs. In Outreachy, the hosting communities—such as the Rust Project—are responsible for funding the interns' stipends and program overhead.
Outreachy runs two internship cycles each year: one from May to August and another from December to March. The Rust Project is participating in the May–August 2026 cycle.
Rust’s Commitment: Four Interns for May 2026
Due to limited funding availability and mentoring capacity, the Rust Project decided to select four interns for the upcoming Outreachy cohort. Below, we highlight three of their projects:
1. Calling Overloaded C++ Functions from Rust
Intern: Ajay Singh
Mentors: teor, Taylor Cramer, and Ethan Smith
This experimental project focuses on enabling Rust code to call overloaded C++ functions. The goal is to implement a prototype feature and begin testing it in several representative use cases, paving the way for smoother interoperability between Rust and C++ codebases.
2. Code Coverage of the Rust Compiler at Scale
Intern: Akintewe Oluwasola
Mentors: Jack Huey
This project aims to develop workflows for running and analyzing code coverage of the Rust compiler across the entire compiler test suite and on ecosystem crates identified by crater. The broader goal is to detect areas where the compiler is inadequately tested—both within the compiler itself and within the broader ecosystem—and to build tools that enable continuous analysis of coverage metrics.
3. Fuzzing the a-mir-formality Type System Implementation
Intern: Tunde-Ajayi Olamiposi
Mentors: Niko Matsakis, Rémy Rakic, and tiif
This project focuses on implementing fuzzing for a-mir-formality, an in-progress formal model of Rust’s type and trait system. Fuzzing will help uncover bugs and edge cases in the model, improving its reliability as a foundation for future language evolution.
We congratulate all selected interns and look forward to their contributions. For more details on Outreachy and how to apply to future cohorts, please refer to the Outreachy website. Stay tuned for updates on the Rust Project’s mentorship initiatives!