Biogeography in R workshop

We are excited to announce the maiden edition of a workshop in biogeographic methods and tools development in the R computing environment. The course will take place at Tulane River and Coastal Center, New Orleans from December 10-16, 2023. The workshop is intended for anyone with interest in biogeographic methods and little prior computer programming experience, to an intermediate or advanced computational biologist curious about honing their skills in R for biogeography and macroecology. This means that learners will be selected from a range of career stages, including undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs or even faculty. Selected participants will be encouraged to arrive with a dataset of their own, or with an idea for a biogeographic project in R.

On the first 3 days of the workshop, course leaders will provide an introduction to the primary data structures and methods of common biogeographic R packages, good R practices, basics of computational algorithms for biogeography, and an overview of other essential topics of software development in R. Over the next 3 workshop days, participants will work in breakout groups with workshop leaders to develop a biogeographic project in R or develop a small R package on their chosen topics.

The workshop is funded by an NSF award to Dr Barnabas Daru (NSF DBI-2113424), with additional support from Stanford University and Southeastern Louisiana University. All accepted students originating from a U.S. port of origin will have their travel costs covered or defrayed, and room and board during the workshop will be provided. As the workshop will be held in the beautiful city of New Orleans, accommodation is comfortable as participants will be stationed in their own bedroom. To expand access and participation, the lectures from these workshops will be webcast for other interested parties to participate.

Application for the course is closed

Admission is competitive. Applications should be submitted by September 22, 2023. Travel and workshop funding available.