Workshop at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, January 13-17, 2020

[Ben Haller]

Hi all.

First of all, as background: SLiM is a software package for creating evolutionary models/simulations that are individual-based and genetically explicit.  It is scriptable, flexible, fast, and includes an interactive graphical modeling environment.  You can read more about it on its home page (https://messerlab.org/slim/).

January 13-17, 2020, a five-day SLiM workshop will be offered at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY, USA).  It will be hosted by Philipp Messer, of Cornell University.  It will be free, and open to participants outside of the university.  HOWEVER, registration is required, a limited number of seats are available, and priority will be given to registrants affiliated with Cornell.  To apply, please send an email to both Philipp and myself (mes...@cornell.edu, bha...@mac.com) with the info below.  The deadline for applying is the end of the day on 22 November (late applicants may be considered if there is room).

For this workshop, your application email should include: (1) your name, (2) your university or institutional affiliation, (3) a link to a research website or similar academic page, if you have one, (4) a 1-2 sentence description of your level of experience with SLiM and any other forward genetic simulation software, if any, (5) a 1-2 sentence summary of why you want to attend the workshop (i.e., the connection to your research), and (6) 1-2 sentences about any specific topics within SLiM that you hope to learn about in the workshop.  Note that you will be responsible for your own lodging and your own transportation.  Please do not apply to the workshop unless you are sufficiently serious that you will actually attend, if accepted.  Note that acceptance will likely be first-come-first-served (apart from the priority for those from the hosting institution), so early application is advised.

The plan is to cover all the major topics in the SLiM manual, starting with lots of introductory material to get beginners up to speed with SLiM and its associated scripting language Eidos, and ending up at advanced topics like non-Wright-Fisher models, tree-sequence recording, continuous-space models, and nucleotide-based models.  We won't cover everything in the manual – that would be overwhelming! – but we'll try to cover all the big topics.  There will also be time for attendees to work on their own models with help from me, and we may also have time to explore some optional side topics that are of particular interest to those attending each workshop.  The workshops will be taught principally using SLiMgui on macOS.  Every attendee will need their own Mac laptop, but a limited number of Mac laptops should be available on-site for those who do not have one.  (A Mac is required to run SLiMgui, which is necessary for teaching purposes.)

I'm hoping to continue doing workshops in future; if you would like to invite me to give a workshop at your institution, please send me an email (off-list).

Cheers,

Benjamin C. Haller

Messer Lab

Cornell University