2025 WNAR/IMS Annual Meeting
WHISTLER, BC, CANADA
The 2025 WNAR/IMS meeting will be in Whistler, B.C., Canada at the Westin Resort & Spa from Sunday, June 15 through Wednesday, June 18.
Registration is open, discounted hotel booking link sent in registration confirmaton email.
Contributed talk and student paper abstracts are being accepted until February 28, 2025 using this form See below for more details.
There will be short courses, a plenary lecture, invited and contributed sessions, young investigator events, and a Student Paper Award with oral sessions. Lihong Qi (UC Davis) is the WNAR Program Chair, Jacob Bien (USC) is the IMS Program Chair, and Catherine Lee (UCSF), Yuchen Han (CU Anschutz), and Zhixin Lun (CU Anshutz) are serving on the program committee along with WNAR President David Rocke (UC Davis; co-chair). The Local Organizing Committee Chair is Michelle Miranda (University of Victoria). Email wnarprogramchair@gmail.com with questions.
Whistler is 75 miles (120 km) north of Vancouver, B.C. The town includes Olympic Village and is a compact, chalet-style pedestrian village at the base of the Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. Whistler is a year-round destination that provides a true Canadian west coast mountain experience and offers a wide selection of restaurants, bars, spas, boutiques, and activities. Whistler’s summer experiences offer a range of adventure from the legendary Bike Park and championship golf courses to glacier-fed lakes and alpine hikes. Visit https://www.whistler.com/ to learn about this beautiful area.
November 1, 2024: deadline for submission of 2025 WNAR/IBS Outstanding Impact Award and Lectureship
January 22, 2025: deadline for submission of invited session proposals
February 28, 2025: Registration open, and hotel discount link available to registrants
February 28, 2025: deadline for Contributed Oral abstract submissions
February 28, 2025: deadline for Student Paper abstracts
April 14, 2025: deadline for full paper submissions of students participating in Student paper competition
WNAR Contributed Talk and Student Paper Abstract Call
Please complete the proposal form to submit your abstract for a contributed talk or for student paper competition. Contributed presentations will be 15 minutes and student paper presentations will be 20 minutes. You will receive an email confirmation with a link that will allow you to make changes after submitting. WNAR holds a student paper competition each year in conjunction with its annual conference. For details on eligibility, guidelines for manuscript preparation, and review criteria, please visit the Student Competition page. The submission deadline for both submissions is February 28, 2025.
For more information, please contact Lihong Qi (Program Co-Chair lhqi@ucdavis.edu), Rhonda Rosychuk (Program Co-Chair rhonda.rosychuk@ualberta.ca), David Rocke (WNAR President wnarprogramchair@gmail.com), Jacob Bien (IMS program Chair jbien@usc.edu), or Michelle Miranda (Local Organizing Chair michellemiranda@uvic.ca).
WNAR Invited Session Call (Deadline Passed)
Please complete the proposal form here to submit your ideas for invited session topics and organizers.
Each invited session can include either 4 speakers, or 3 speakers and 1 discussant. Initial submissions require a title, description/motivation of the session, session chair and speaker names, affiliations, and emails. An attendee may present in one scientific speaking slot only, but may also be a discussant in one session. WNAR/IMS believes that diverse perspectives increase the quality of sessions and the conference overall. As such, we would like to highlight sessions that showcase diversity in their speakers or topics. We encourage session organizers to include a diverse set of speakers or topics.
Submissions are due January 22, 2025 and consist of a short proposal; abstracts are not required for this submission. Accepted invited sessions will be notified by January 29, 2025 after which abstracts and registration will be due February 28, 2025. Please contact WNAR program chairs Lihong Qi, Rhonda Rosychuk, and David Rocke (wnarprogramchair@gmail.com), Jacob Bien, (jbien@usc.edu, IMS program chair), or Michelle Miranda (michellemiranda@uvic.ca, local organizing chair) for more information.
Short Courses (Sunday June 15)
Half-day short courses are offered on Sunday June 15.
Short Course I (8am-12pm) - Statistical Inference via Data Science with R
Instructors: Chester Ismay (Portland State University) and Arturo Valdivia (Indiana University)
Tailored for statistics and data science professionals in the sciences, this workshop provides a complete roadmap for mastering statistical inference in unison with contemporary data science tools. The session is structured into two consecutive parts:
- Foundations with the Tidyverse: Begin with an introduction to the tidyverse suite of R packages, including ggplot2 for dynamic data visualization and dplyr for efficient data wrangling. With minimal prerequisites, this segment is accessible to newcomers to R/the tidyverse and those looking to solidify their data handling skills with a formal framework.
- Simulation-Based Inference: Explore statistical inference within a general structure using simulation-based methods via the infer package. This approach complements the tidyverse by enabling the construction of confidence intervals and the execution of hypothesis tests with language and functions that add to understanding—all while emphasizing data visualization techniques.
Attendees will engage in interactive learning through dynamic online resources, hands-on exercises, and case studies that reinforce both the intuitive and formal aspects of statistical methods. In addition, the workshop offers expanded theoretical insights that bridge simulation-based approaches and traditional theory, deepening overall understanding of statistical inference.
By the end of the workshop, participants will have a solid foundation in exploratory data analysis and statistical inference from a common computational foundation, empowering them to translate complex data into actionable insights with confidence.
Short Course II (8am-12pm) - Creating Professional Presentations and Websites using R/Quarto
Instructors: Meike Niederhausen (Oregon Health & Science University) and Jessica Minnier (Oregon Health & Science University)
This course aims to teach statisticians and data scientists across all sectors of academia and industry to create professional style presentations and websites in R and RStudio using the recently developed Quarto package. This package is an extension of RMarkdown and most often used for literate programming reports that incorporate code from R and other programming languages with text, graphs, and results. However, this powerful package can create much more than just an analysis report. This workshop will teach R users who may be novices in Quarto about the other useful applications of Quarto, specifically how to build websites for their professional profiles as well as courses, and how to make presentations for talks and teaching. Quarto presentations can include code and results within slides as well as harness useful presentation tools such as annotations, outlines, notes, etc. Presentations can be formatted as html (Reveal JS), PowerPoint, or LaTeX Beamer slides. Participants will need to bring laptops with R and RStudio installed, and will receive instructions prior to the course to install required R packages. Example website and presentations can be found at https://niederhausen.github.io/BSTA_511_F24/
Short Course III (1pm-5pm) - LLM-Driven Analysis and Reporting with R
Instructors: Chester Ismay (Portland State University) and Arturo Valdivia (Indiana University)
Designed for practitioners of statistics and data science, this workshop focuses on how Large Language Models (LLMs) can streamline and enhance data analysis workflows. Participants will explore how LLMs can assist in generating first drafts of analyses/reports, debugging and refining R code, and automating routine analytical tasks.
The session will demonstrate practical strategies for leveraging LLMs to work with pre-defined templates, producing structured and comprehensive reports that integrate statistical insights and data visualizations. Additionally, participants will learn how to use GitHub Copilot in RStudio and/or other coding-based tools to generate and refine code, expediting exploratory data analysis and creating initial analysis drafts that serve as a foundation for further investigation. Real-world examples from ModernDive (https://www.moderndive.com/v2/) will be used to motivate discussion and for case studies.
By the end of the workshop, participants will have concrete ideas for incorporating LLM-driven techniques into their analytical processes, enabling faster and more efficient insights in their field.
WNAR Expanding Opportunities Workshop
The 2025 WNAR Expanding Opportunities Workshop (June 15-June 16) is a satellite workshop held in conjunction with WNAR, emphasizing the importance of mentorship and belonging in quantitative fields. The workshop will connect undergraduate students with professional (bio)statisticians and data scientists in academia, government, and industry. It is organized by the WNAR Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee and the WNAR Leadership Committee.
Note: due to current unexpected funding cuts, WNAR is seeking donations to help support this workshop for 2025. Please see the Donate page or donate when you register for the WNAR meeting, if you are able. Thank you for your support of WNAR's continued outreach to junior members and potential potential (bio)statisticians and data scientists.
WNAR Indigenous Student Travel Awards
WNAR is offering multiple travel awards for Indigenous students from within the WNAR region to attend our annual conference. Awards up to $1,000 are available for conference travel and lodging related expenses. Eligible students include Indigenous peoples of North America and the Pacific Islands. To apply, please send a letter outlining your connection to Indigenous peoples and why you are looking forward to attending the WNAR annual conference to: jedi@wnar.org. Deadline for applications is May 1, 2025.
Details about the discounted conference hotel rooms are only available in the confirmation email upon successful registration. Please register at your earliest convenience. Please reserve rooms at the conference hotel, Westin Resort & Spa, using the provided discount link, as this supports the WNAR meeting and the society's operations.
Participants are expected to reserve their own travel to Whistler. The closest airport is YVR Vancouver. Please see this pdf of transportation options provided by the Westin. The cheapest option for individual bookings is through Whistler Connection's Whistler Shuttle which must be reserved in advance, $79CAD one way for adults (rates).
The Concierge Team at the Westin Resort & Spa can assist you in arranging transportation. Please contact them by telephone at (604) 935-4323 or email concierge@westinwhistler.com.
WNAR holds a student paper competition each year in conjunction with its annual conference.
For details on eligibility, guidelines for manuscript preparation, and review criteria, please visit the Student Competition page.