This proposed keynote will explore the emerging use of Rust in scientific and public health software - domains where reliability, safety, and transparency are essential. While Rust is still new in these fields, its guarantees align strongly with the needs of science: correctness, reproducibility, and long-term maintainability.

I’ll share examples from my own work in epidemiology, including tools for synthetic data generation and codelist management, and highlight other efforts across climate science, biomedical research, and open data platforms. I want to inspire researchers learning systems programming, and Rust developers looking for meaningful projects, to come together around a shared vision: using Rust to build better tools for science and the public good.

This talk will reflect both on what’s possible now and what we can do better - learning from the past to ensure the scientific software we build with Rust is open, reproducible, and built to last.