Schedule

Note: this schedule is subject to change. Please check for updates frequently!

Week Lecture 1 Lab Lecture 2 Material Covered Readings
Aug. 25 Course Introduction Lab #1: algorithms in R Algorithms Review syllabus, programming algorithms in R Clark Ch. 1; Touchon and McCoy 2016; Bolker Ch 1
Sept. 1 No class (labor day) Lab #1: algorithms in R Algorithms Programming basic concepts in statistics, probability Bolker ch. 4
Sept. 8 Probability Lab #2: “Virtual Ecologist” Probability Probability, mechanistic models, stochastic models Bolker Chs. 2, 3
Sept. 15 Data Generation Lab #2: “Virtual Ecologist” Data Generation Power analysis, goodness-of-fit testing, likelihood Bolker Ch. 5; Hobbs and Hilborn 2006 (optional)
Sept. 22 Likelihood Lab #3: Maximum likelihood Likelihood Likelihood theory, maximum likelihood Bolker Ch. 6
Sept. 29 Likelihood Lab #3: Maximum likelihood Optimization Maximum likelihood inference, optimization algorithms Bolker Chs. 6, 7
Oct. 6 Optimization Group meetings: final projects Bayesian inference General introduction to Bayesian theory and application Bolker Ch. 7 (Bayesian section); Ellison 2004
Oct. 13 Bayesian inference Lab #4: Bayesian model fitting Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) Markov-Chain Monte Carlo for Bayesian inference Bolker Ch. 7 (Bayesian section);
Oct. 20 Model selection re: max likelihood inference Lab #4: Bayesian model fitting Model selection re: Bayesian inference Model selection using information theoretic criteria Bolker Ch. 6 (AIC section)
Oct. 27 Model performance evaluation Student project progress reports and discussion Model performance evaluation Bias-variance tradeoff, cross-validation, assessing predictive accuracy
Nov. 3 Multilevel models Demo/activity: multilevel models Multilevel models Multilevel models, “Random effects”, accounting for non-independence
Nov. 10 Bayesian multilevel models Group meetings: final projects Bayesian multilevel models Bayesian multilevel (hierarchical) models
Nov. 17 Nonlinear models and GAMs Demo/activity: GAMs Nonlinear models and GAMs Genearlized additive models (GAMs)
Nov. 24 Spatial models Demo/activity: Spatial models in INLA TBD Spatial autocorrelation
Dec. 1 TBD TBD TBD TBD
Dec. 8 Class wrap-up Student project presenations! No class (prep day)
Dec. 15 NA (classes over- project write-ups due by midnight Dec. 15)