The Open Mainframe Project’s annual summer mentorship program has connected more than 200 students with hands-on experience in Linux, open source, and mainframes. Our mentees use the knowledge and experience they gain from their mentorships throughout their academic pursuits and careers.
This summer, we’re offering 5 mentorship opportunities. The term runs June 1 through August 31.
This year’s mentorships focus on two of the most pressing conversations in the mainframe community, digital sovereignty and AI-driven modernization. The full list of available mentorships:
- Role of Mainframes in Digital Sovereignty and Resilience
- Role of AI in Mainframe Application Modernization
- Mainframe Modernization Whitepaper
- AI-Powered Mainframe Data Modernization
- Workflow APIs for Zowe Client Java SDK
If you’re a student ready to work on real problems alongside experienced practitioners, this is where to start.
The deadline to submit applications is Friday, May 15. Learn more about the mentorships here:
Role of mainframes in Digital sovereignty and resilience
Mentors:
- Bruno Azenha, Global FSI Tech Strategy and Modernization at Red Hat
- Swathi Rao, Business System Analyst at KPMG
Description:
The primary objective of this project is to analyze the role of mainframe platforms in achieving digital sovereignty and operational resilience within enterprise architectures. The mentee will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of on-premise mainframe infrastructure compared to public cloud environments, specifically focusing on data residency, regulatory compliance (such as DORA), and resilience models.
Role of AI in mainframe application modernization
Mentors:
- Misty Decker, GTM Lead for Mainframe Modernization Strategic Partnerships at Kyndryl
Description:
The primary objective of this project is to analyze how artificial intelligence (AI) tools can assist in mainframe application modernization. The mentee will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of traditional versus AI-assisted modernization approaches. The research will explore how AI enables business rule extraction and addresses specific challenges where manual methods or traditional tooling fall short. Additionally, the project will assess the current technical limitations and discuss a cost-benefit of AI-driven modernization.
Mainframe Modernization Whitepaper
Mentors:
- Bruno Azenha, Global FSI Tech Strategy and Modernization at Red Hat
Description:
Advance thought leadership around what it means to modernize the mainframe. Our mentorship program offers you the chance to research, analyse, and document strategies for modernization of mainframes and the applications workloads that run on top of it. You’ll work closely with a mentor and connect with top industry professionals.
Deliverables: A whitepaper to be published under the modernization working group banner.
AI powered mainframe data modernization
Mentors:
- Vinu Viswasadhas, Adjunct Professor at University of Cumberlands
Description:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents an opportunity to accelerate and de‑risk mainframe data modernization by automating the most complex and labor‑intensive aspects of understanding, extracting, and rebuilding legacy workloads.
This project will deliver a comprehensive framework that guides organizations through understanding legacy mainframe data structures, mapping those datasets to modern cloud‑based platforms, and applying effective methods for data transfer, quality checks, and validation. As part of this effort, the participant will also develop a demonstration application that showcases the practical implementation of key elements of the framework, illustrating how each component works together to support a successful modernization journey.
Workflow APIs for Zowe Client Java SDK
Mentors:
- Francesco Giordano, R&D Software Engineer at Broadcom
Description:
Enhance the Zowe Java SDK by adding support for the z/OSMF Workflow REST APIs documented here:
This continues the evolution of the SDK toward broader coverage of z/OSMF REST APIs and helps move it closer to full z/OSMF API support. It will also enable the Java community to build automation and tooling for z/OS using modern Java frameworks, libraries, and delivery pipelines.
Learn more about past mentorships and watch mentees share their experiences in videos on the Mentorship Playlist on the Open Mainframe Project Youtube Channel.
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