Grad Student & Post-doc Summer Course: Assimilating Long-Term Data into
Ecosystem Models
Offered by: PaleoEcological Observatory Network (PalEON:paleonproject.org)
Dates: August 17-23, 2014
Course description: Estimating the impact of global change processes like
land-use and climate on terrestrial ecosystems requires an integration of
long-term data and ecosystem models. This course will provide 20 graduate
students and postdocs with intensive training in the emerging tools that
allow us to:
-estimate the signal and uncertainty in historical and paleoecological data
-assimilate both signal and uncertainty into the current suite of
terrestrial ecosystem models
The course has a hands-on, integrated curriculum emphasizing the data/model
process from design through data collection, analysis and back to design. We
will collect tree-rings, historical survey data and sedimentary data (e.g.,
pollen, charcoal, and macrofossils). Analysis of these data will take place
in a Bayesian mode of inference addressing uncertainty in age-models,
calibration of proxy data, and integration of diverse historical data. After
an introduction to inference from ecosystem models in traditional "forward"
mode, participants will integrate ecological parameters estimated from their
data sets into these ecosystem models using formal Bayesian data
assimilation.
Participating faculty: Mike Dietze (Boston University); Steve Jackson (U.S.
Geological Survey and University of Arizona); Jason McLachlan (University of
Notre Dame); Chris Paciorek (University of California Berkeley); Jack
Williams (University of Wisconsin)
Location: University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center, Land
O'Lakes, WI, USA.
Fees: This workshop is funded by a grant from the National Science
Foundation and is free to participants. You must provide your own means of
transportation to Chicago, Illinois or Madison, Wisconsin.
Application: We are seeking students with interests and backgrounds in
paleoecology, terrestrial ecosystem modeling, and/or statistics. Send a CV,
a statement detailing why you want to take the course and how you anticipate
it helping your research, and arrange to have a letter sent
from your major advisor supporting your application.
Apply to: Jody Peters at [email protected]
Deadline: February 15, 2014. Selected candidates will be announced by March
1, 2014.
