News: SME Announcements (#838)

content/news/2023-12-12-sme-announcements/index.md

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+title = "SME Announcements"
+date = 2023-12-12
+[extra]
+author = "Carter Anderson"
+twitter = "cart_cart"
+github = "cart"
+youtube = "cartdev"
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+
+[@cart](https://www.twitter.com/cart_cart) here (Bevy's creator and Project Lead) with a quick update! We have some new SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) to announce.
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+## What is an SME?
+
+[At the start of this year](/news/scaling-bevy-development/) we rolled out the [new structure for The Bevy Organization](https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/blob/main/docs/the_bevy_organization.md), including the Subject Matter Expert system. SMEs are Bevy community members that have distinguished themselves as:
+
+1. An expert in a given area (ex: Rendering, Audio, ECS, etc)
+2. Aligned with our vision for Bevy
+3. Easy to work with and welcoming to new contributors
+
+An SME approval counts as a "vote" for controversial changes (ex: a [pull request](https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/pulls) or [RFC](https://github.com/bevyengine/rfcs) that is opinionated, highly technical, impactful, and/or large). If a controversial change receives 2 votes, it can be merged.
+
+For a list of all current SMEs (and a full view of the Bevy Organization), check out the [Bevy People](/community/people/) page.
+
+## The New SMEs
+
+Please join me in welcoming our new SMEs!
+
+* **ECS**
+  * [@JoJoJet](https://github.com/JoJoJet) (Joseph Giordano): A highly technical ECS contributor with a prolific number of contributions, and a focus on low level internals, quality, and correctness.
+  * [@alice-i-cecile](https://github.com/alice-i-cecile/) (Alice Cecile): Has helped design and implement a ton of ECS features, including ECS Schedule V3. A long-time ECS developer with a vision for where we should be headed.
+* **Rendering**
+  * [@IceSentry](https://github.com/IceSentry): Has contributed foundational improvements to Bevy's renderer, such as depth and normal prepasses and render graph improvements. Builds on Bevy's renderer tech professionally at Foresight Spatial Labs. A truly prolific reviewer possessing a firm understanding of the internals.
+* **Input**
+  * [@alice-i-cecile](https://github.com/alice-i-cecile/) (Alice Cecile): Authored leafwing-input-manager, a solid 3rd party action-driven input plugin for Bevy. Interested in bringing similar features upstream!
+  * [@mockersf](https://github.com/mockersf) (François Mockers): Contributed a variety of input improvements and brings mobile expertise to the space.
+* **Mobile**
+  * [@mockersf](https://github.com/mockersf) (François Mockers): Brought Bevy's Android support across the finish line, built out a "real phone" CI mobile test suite, and regularly ensures Bevy continues to work across platforms.
+* **Docs**
+  * [@alice-i-cecile](https://github.com/alice-i-cecile/) (Alice Cecile): Has been our lead doc-wrangler for years, which includes code docs, examples, and driving efforts like the new Bevy Book.
+
+As always, these appointments shouldn't be particularly surprising. These people have been building fantastic things in their areas for awhile now.
+
+## Quick Updates
+
+I'll also take this as a chance to share some other quick updates with you:
+
+* **Bevy Jam #4**: [Bevy Jam #4](https://itch.io/jam/bevy-jam-4) just wrapped up! The theme was **That's a LOT of Entities**! We are now in the voting period. You can now play and rate the entries.
+* **A Legal Bevy Entity**: We are in the process of designing and implementing a "legal Bevy entity". This will be a centralized entity that will do things like accept and distribute sponsorships, as well as hold on to things like "ownership of the Bevy logo". Expect an announcement about this soon.
+* **A New Bevy Scene and UI System**: We are deep in the prototyping phase of defining the new system for composing Bevy scenes (including UIs). This is a critical first step to unlock Bevy Editor development. It will also massively improve the experience of composing Bevy scenes, both in code and in asset files (composed by hand _or_ in the upcoming editor). We should have updates on this soon.
+
+This is an exciting time for Bevy. The next year is going to be big for us!
+
+\- [@cart](https://github.com/cart/)