This award supports the participation of junior researchers in the joint 2014 Graybill/ENVR Conference, titled "Modern Statistical Methods for Ecology" and co-sponsored by the Department of Statistics at Colorado State University (CSU) and the American Statistical Association Section on Statistics and the Environment (ENVR), occurring September 7-10, 2014, at CSU in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Researchers in statistical ecology seek to understand how animals, plants and humans interact with each other and with the environment, using empirical methods that reflect both the evidence and uncertainty inherent in quantitative data. Such research involves both the theoretical development of advanced statistical techniques for data analysis, and the application of such techniques to complex and important real-world datasets. With respect to education, the conference aims to enhance the knowledge base and enthusiasm of graduate students and emerging statisticians, encouraging them to pursue continued study and professional lives in the field of statistics. Scientifically, the continued development of theoretical and applied statistical results in ecology advances the state of knowledge in this discipline, propagates to related statistical research areas, and serves the greater scientific community through collaboration and application. Inclusion of participants from government agencies like NOAA and USGS provides an avenue to immediately impact the scientific foundations supporting national and regional policy making. Many of today's most pressing problems concern human-induced environmental and ecological impacts. Statistical ecology provides the methods and language for interpreting such science and translating it into good policy. By providing a scientific, statistical basis for the study and management of important ecological systems, the field of statistical ecology provides society with insights into what lies ahead for people, communities of all scales, and the world they inhabit.
The meeting includes a short course, keynote and invited talks, and a poster session. Speaker topics span diverse areas of statistical ecology including: abundance estimation techniques; animal movement models; biodiversity estimation and models; capture-recapture methods; deterministic and stochastic models for ecosystems; distance sampling methods; ecological monitoring; estimation of population trends; individual-based modeling; landscape genomics; multi-scale models; population dynamics modeling; spatial models for ecological problems; species distribution models; and wildlife disease modeling. The goal of the conference is to provide an opportunity for statistical researchers, practitioners and graduate students working in this area to generate and share ideas for new creative research; to receive practical training; to stimulate professional networking opportunities; and to provide young researchers exposure for their work.
Conference website: www.stat.colostate.edu/graybillconference/
