Topic: Data Analytics
Understanding The World Through R
November 8, 2016 at 7:00pm
The world is bubbling over with data. When analyzed, data can provide the inquiring mind with useful information that can suggest outcomes and support decision-making. Be it the data generated about business practices, human behaviours, the biological world; being able to understand what your data is telling you is incredibly empowering. “R” is a free, accessible, and powerful programming language that offers a suite of tools for data analysis.
Our tour guide, Trevor Avery — biostatistician, faculty member at Acadia University, and coordinator of R-bar — will provide us a primer on R. Through a series of examples, he will demonstrate the various strength of R in data analysis and data visualization. No experience with programming is required to learn about what R can do for you. Just bring your inquiring mind.
Acadia Institute for Data Analytics
Rural Canada feeds our nation literally, economically, and environmentally. It provides the food, fiber, minerals, water and other bio-resources and natural resources on which our country depends and the arteries of transportation by which they are delivered. Digital technologies and data analytics can help us shape how we work with these resources and their impact on our local communities and our planet.
Mission
To advance knowledge in data analytics through collaborative and interdisciplinary research, education and outreach and to foster the ethical application and commercialization of data analytic solutions to challenges facing industry, government and society in rural Canada. The institute will initially focus on agriculture, food production, the environment, and green energy.
Dr Daniel Silver
Dr. Daniel L. Silver is the Director of the Acadia Institute for Data Analytics . He is also a Professor in and currently the Acting-Director of the Jodrey School of Computer Science at Acadia University. His areas of research and application are machine learning, data mining, and data analytics. His expertise is in Lifelong Machine Learning and Transfer Learning. He has published over 65 scientific papers and has co-chaired or been part of program committees for a number of national and international conferences, seminars and workshops on data mining and machine learning. He was the President of the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association (CAIAC) from 2009-11. In 2011, he received the Science Champion Award from the Nova Scotia Discovery Center for his work on youth robotics and the advancement of STEM education. In December, 2014, he became an Honorary Colonel in the RCAF attached to 14 Wing Software Engineering Squadron, in Greenwood, NS. In June of 2016, was awarded Canadian AI’s Distinguished Service Award. Danny has over 30 years of experience in information technology, project management and business administration. Since 1993, he has worked on machine learning and data mining projects in the private and public sector providing situation analysis and problem definition, project management and guidance, and data mining services.
R-bar
R-bar is Acadia University’s scientific programming study group. They cover everything R: a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics.
WHAT WE DO
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Skill Sharing: Share your favorite coding skills and tools with your friends and colleagues in friendly, no-pressure work-alongs.
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Co-Working: Get together to work on your coding projects, help each other out and share your work.
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Community Building: Meet new people in your field, organization or community - and find out what we can do when we work together.
Trevor Avery
Trevor Avery is a marine biologist (Ph.D.) and biostatistician (P.Stat.) with a variety of research interests. U. of Guelph was home for his undergraduate Honours, Acadia U. for an M.Sc. (under Mike Dadswell) and Memorial U. for his Ph.D. (with Joe Brown, r.i.p.); Currently he is back with Acadia as an Associate Professor cross appointed within the faculties of Biology and Mathematics & Statistics.
Technology and analysis techniques (statistics) play a significant role in most of his research projects, but not all. Trevor’s research interests are broad covering ecology and pedagogy. Trevor also runs R-bar : Acadia’s scientific programming study group.