Syllabus

We are currently developing the 2024 syllabus. In the meantime, check out the 2022 syllabus below.

Week 0: Preparation

• Friday, June 10: Please attend open office hours if you have questions on installation or preparation.

Week 1: Models and Data

• Monday, June 13: Intro to Program + Student Research Presentations (Cara Brook)
  • Intro to Program Lecture
• Wednesday, June 15: Models and Data lecture + Exploring and Visualizing Data in R, tutorial (Cara Brook)
  • Data and Models Lecture
  • R Basics + Exploring and Visualizing Data Tutorial
• Mentor/Mentee Goal: Define research questions for project

Week 2: Intro to simple statistics

• Monday, June 27: Introduction to simple statistics (Kacie Ring)
  • Simple statistics tutorial
  • Simple statistics Rmarkdown download
• Wednesday, June 29: Introduction to linear regression (Sophia Horigan)
  • Linear regression lecture
  • Linear regression tutorial
• Mentor/Mentee Goal: Explore individual datasets + Refine research questions
  • Please fill out this contract as a mentor/mentee pair by Friday, July 8, 2022!

Week 3: Intro to mixed modeling

• Monday, July 11: Intro to mixed modeling lecture (Emily Ruhs / Dave Klinges)
  • Mixed models lecture
  • Mixed models tutorial
• Wednesday, July 13: Intro to mixed modeling lecture tutorial (Emily Ruhs / Dave Klinges)
  • Mixed models part 2 lecture
  • Mixed models part 2 tutorial
• Mentor/Mentee Goal: Outline plan for research analyses on independent work

Week 4: Community biodiversity analyses

• Monday, July 25: Community biodiversity analysis lecture (Katie Young)
  • Community biodiversity lecture
• Wednesday, July 27: Community biodiversity analysis tutorial (Katie Young)
  • Community biodiversity tutorial
• Mentor/Mentee Goal: Outline 3-5 figures and accompany analyses for final paper
  • Please fill out this assignment form as a mentor/mentee pair by Friday, August 12!

Week 5: Building and fitting compartmental models in ecology

• Monday, August 8: Building and fitting compartmental models in ecology lecture (Katie Gostic)
  • Compartmental models part 1 lecture
  • Compartmental models part 1 tutorial
• Wednesday, August 10: Building and fitting compartmental models in ecology tutorial (Katie Gostic)
  • Compartmental models part 2 lecture
  • Compartmental models part 2 tutorial
• Mentor/Mentee Goal: Begin work on figures for final paper

Week 6: Model evaluation and comparison

• Monday, August 22: Model evaluation and comparison lecture (Sam Sambado/Tatum Katz)
  • Model evaluation lecture
• Wednesday, August 24: Model evaluation and comparison tutorial (Sam Sambado/Tatum Katz)
  • Model evaluation tutorial
• Mentor/Mentee Goal: Conclude Figure 1 for final paper

Week 7: Mid-Session Workshop

• Tuesday, September 6: Workshop Session 1

• Wednesday, September 7: Workshop Session 2

• Please submit your workshop slides here by Monday, September 5!

• Mid-Session Feedback: We would like to get your feedback on the course!
  • Students, please fill out this feedback form!
• Mentor/Mentee Goal: Conclude Figure 2 for final paper

After courses conclude, we will move to once-a-month full group check-ins and research progress reports as a whole class. Mentors and mentees will continue to meet on their own time throughout this stage of the research to advance research progress on student projects.

Week 8: Research updates

• In-person office hours with Cara Brook on Tuesday, September 27 from 7-10 am Madagascar time at the Madagascar Biodiversity Center in Tsimbazaza!
  • Cara will be giving a seminar following in-person office hours at 10 am at the MBC. You are all invited to attend!
• Mentor/Mentee Goal: Conclude Figures 3-4 for final paper

Week 9: Research updates

• Monday, October 24: no meeting this week
• Mentor/Mentee Goal: Conclude Figure 5 for final paper (if applicable) + outline plans for writing manuscript

Week 10: Research updates

• Wednesday, November 23: Full group check-in + research updates
• Please submit your slides here by Monday, November 21!
• Mentor/Mentee Goal: Write introduction to final paper

Week 11: Research updates

• Saturday, December 10-Saturday, December 17: C4C students attend E2M2 2022 for independent worktime with instructor support.

Week 12: Research updates

• Wednesday, January 4: Cara and Sophia available for in-person tutoring from 9am-4pm at Madagascar Biodiversity Center at Tsimbazaza. Please stop by with any questions!

Week 13: Research updates

• Wednesday, January 18: Cara available for in-person tutoring from 8am-4pm at Madagascar Biodiversity Center at Tsimbazaza.

Week 14: Research updates

• Wednesday, February 15: Full group check-in + research updates

Week 15: Research updates

• Wednesday, March 15: Full group check-in + research updates

Week 16: Research updates

• Wednesday, April 12: Full group check-in + research updates

Week 17: Research updates

• Wednesday, May 10: Full group check-in + research updates

Week 18: Research updates

• TBA: In-person tutoring in June 2023 at Madagascar Biodiversity Center!

• We are postponing the final presentations until September 2023!

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General Notes

• Students can access preparation materials and assignments here.
• All courses take place from 6:30-8pm Madagascar time (9:30-11am US CT) unless otherwise noted.
• Mentors and mentees should meet and/or discuss virtually (e.g. slack) on the off-weeks between courses to (1) address any confusion from the topics of the week and (2) guide progress on each student’s independent research project. Mentor-mentee assignments are available here.
• Training themes are listed by week of instruction. The syllabus can also be accessed on Google Sheets here.
• Each training theme is accompanied by a Mentor/Mentee Goal. These can can also be viewed on GoogleSheets here.
• All lectures are recorded and available for download in the Box folder here.