Pre-conference workshops

Half-Day Morning Pre-Conference Workshops

Improving confidence with communicating and networking in professional settings

Workshop Facilitator: Juliana D’Andrilli, Advanced Environmental Research Institute (AERI), University of North Texas

When: Sunday May 18, 2025

Where: Puerto Rico Convention Centre

Duration & Time: Half-day Morning Workshop, 8:00AM - 12:00PM

Cost: $50.00 USD

Most communication workshops focus on lecturing, instead of providing tools to practice in a group setting. Our workshop focuses on the effective use of improvisation techniques to improve confidence with communication in the scientific community and to foster professional development for individuals to network successfully. The objective of this workshop is to educate and practice improvisation skills that will prepare participants for confident networking and socializing regardless of the communicative situation including (i) taking the first steps/initiating a conversation, (ii) maintaining a conversation, (iii) giving a presentation, (iv) physical presence/body awareness when involved in a conversation, and (v) quick critical and creative thinking.

Workshop agenda items include a brief introduction of experiences communicating with people, a discussion of common networking challenges, and the improvisation techniques for success. Following the introduction, all attendees will participate in progressive exercises designed to strengthen communication skills and confidence in diverse settings. The exercises will require vocal projections and physical movement, therefore plan to bring your healthiest self. Attendees will be both participants and audience members to maximize education and reflection. The workshop will conclude with a discussion, self-reflection/evaluation, and closing remarks.

At the completion of the workshop participants will communicate more confidently, think creativity, grow professionally, and have fun and be silly. Quick and creative thinking are essential targets for professional growth working both individually and in group settings. Scientists at all career stages should continue to practice effective communication to achieve success in the classroom, laboratory, during field work, and at scientific conferences. Avenues of confident communication practice, however, can be limited, therefore improvisation workshops provide mechanisms that foster practice and progressive education, where each exercise builds upon the previous exercise. No prior improvisation, public speaking, or theatrical experience is necessary, just the willingness to participate and be open to learning new techniques.

Advanced Computational Techniques for Applied Ecological Models

Workshop Facilitator: Aubrey Harris, USACE ERDC

When: Sunday May 18, 2025

Where: Puerto Rico Convention Centre

Duration & Time: Half-day Morning Workshop, 8:00AM - 12:00PM

Cost: $70.00 USD (coffee provided)

In the United States and elsewhere, there has been a great proliferation of spatial and temporal environmental data that can be leveraged for ecological analysis and restoration. Leveraging these diverse data types and analysis techniques makes it possible to strengthen ecological models to inform decision making. The objective of this workshop is to demonstrate a variety of advanced computational or data techniques that may be applied to ecological models for restoration planning. The course demonstrates the importance of developing conceptual ecological models, and walks attendees through increasing model complexity with the support of monitoring data, readily available spatial data, and numerical techniques including hydraulic modeling, statistical analysis, and machine learning methods. The framework and several hands-on activities will teach attendees how these tools may be applied to their own projects for restoration planning and alternatives analysis.

Professional Skills for Navigating Your Early Career

Workshop Facilitator: Christine Cornish, Virginia Tech

When: Sunday May 18, 2025

Where: Puerto Rico Convention Centre

Duration & Time: Half-day Morning Workshop, 8:00AM - 12:00PM

Cost: $0.00 USD for first 20 registrants (coffee & snack provided)

This half-day workshop provides opportunities for early career scientists and students to develop professional “soft skills” that may help them navigate their early careers. These skills are often termed the “hidden curriculum” and are not often presented in a structured setting, making obtaining these skills difficult. Within SFS, The Headwaters Leadership Academy (HLA) and Scholar Team for Research, Engagement, & Advancing Minority voices (STREAM) are two avenues to further develop professional skills and community, and this workshop is meant to provide a taste of what the HLA and STREAM programs offer.

This workshop focuses on soft skills including professional development (e.g., networking, selling yourself, conflict management) and mentor-mentee dynamics. Additionally, the workshop will address imposter syndrome, acceptance, and inclusivity. The goal is to provide participants with the opportunity to improve or develop professional development skills in a hands-on way while also providing information on further avenues with SFS to expand these skills. The target audience for this workshop are late-stage graduate students and early career scientists who are interested in the HLA, STREAM, or gaining more professional development skills.

The workshop starts with an overview of the HLA and STREAM followed by a series of presentations and activities that focus on soft skill development. These workshops will be facilitated by presenters from different career stages and will include an overview of a skill/topic followed by an activity to practice. We anticipate covering networking (identifying and expanding your network, speed networking, and sense of belonging), selling yourself (perfecting the elevator pitch and overcoming imposter syndrome), mentor-mentee dynamics (identifying healthy dynamics and fostering inclusivity), and conflict management (recognizing and working through conflicts). We will finish with a question-and-answer session with workshop presenters and current HLA and STREAM members to give workshop participants the opportunity to ask questions about covered topics and the organizations. Breakfast will be included with the workshop and an optional lunch/social gathering will take place afterwards for those who wish to join.

Introduction to Sparse Modeling in R

Workshop Facilitator: Christa Torrens & Bob Hall, University of Montana

When: Sunday May 18, 2025

Where: Puerto Rico Convention Centre

Duration & Time: Half-day Morning Workshop, 9:00AM - 12:00PM

Cost: $50.00 USD

Unlock the power of ecological insights in the era of big data! Massive ecological datasets are being generated more frequently and inexpensively than ever before. However, datasets that have far more predictors (P) than observations (N) pose serious challenges for traditional statistical methods, and often result in overfitting, poor predictive performance, and inaccurate variable selection. Sparse modeling approaches resolve the P>>N problem by constraining the number of potential predictors in a model, and typically lead to better out-of-sample prediction; these distilled models might also better reflect the true processes affecting the response. Join our interactive workshop where you'll delve into cutting-edge techniques using simple R packages to harness, analyze, and interpret big ecological datasets (datasets provided). This workshop is appropriate for scientists at any career stage; it will provide an introductory course on sparse modeling techniques followed by a live-coding lesson in R, where participants will create their own scripts for the SuSiE (susieR) and lasso (glmnet) approaches. Participants will walk away from this course with a firm understanding of several sparse modeling approaches and their usefulness, as well as methods for implementing, visualizing, and interpreting these modeling approaches in R.