Last Updated: 20240130

Tutorials on

AstroStatistics and R

by Eric Feigelson

Jan 29 and Jan 31, 2014

Phillips Auditorium, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138

hea-www.harvard.edu/AstroStat/Tutorial2014
| Description | Schedule | Contacts | changelog |

Description

Eric Feigelson (Penn State University) gave a series of lectures and tutorials on statistical methods for astronomical research on Wednesday Jan 29 and Friday Jan 31, 2014. Two lectures were of general interest, while the others involved training in methodology and the R statistical software language. R is the largest public domain package for applied statistics, growing exponentially since 2001 with ~100,000 functionalities.

Dr. Feigelson is Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics and of Statistics, Associate Director of the Center for Astrostatistics, lead author of the 2012 text `Modern Statistical Methods for Astronomy with R Applications', founding chair of the IAU Working Group in Astrostatistics & Astroinformatics, and co-editor of the Astrostatistics & Astroinformatics Portal (http://asaip.psu.edu). The program included a talk by Vinay Kashyap (CfA and CHASC astrostatistics collaboration, http://hea-www.harvard.edu/AstroStat/) covering Poisson processes including approaches to nondetections, hardness ratios, and Bayesian modeling.

Note added 2024 January: The original R scripts in the book Modern Statistical Methods for Astronomy with R Applications are formally proprietary to Cambridge University Press, but they have waived their rights. These scripts are available at Eric Feigelson's Penn State astrostatistics page at https://sites.psu.edu/astrostatistics/MSMA/. In addition, Eric's tutorials from several of the Summer Schools are available at https://sites.psu.edu/astrostatistics/datasets/, and another version of his roving tutorials are available on Zenodo at https://zenodo.org/records/1290840.

Webcast

The Tutorial sessions were webcast and are available via YouTube.

The scratch space document that registrants used to communicate before, during, and after the tutorial, is saved as a pdf document.

Schedule

The tutorial lectures are roughly at the level of advanced-undergrad statistics courses. The participants need laptops and an internet connection. The tutorials will be held on days on either side of the CfA Colloquium on Star Formation on Thursday, Jan 30, by Dr. Feigelson. The detailed schedule is given below:


Wednesday, Jan 29


9:00am - 10:00am : Astrostatistics: The role of statistical methodology in astronomical research [general interest lecture]
     * Presentation slides [.pdf] (access CfA only)
     * Video (until 1:18:18) [@YouTube] (access to registrants only)

10:00am - 11:00am : Introduction to the R statistical software language [lecture & practicum]
     * R commands script [.txt] (access CfA only)
     * Video (begins 1:14:40 in) [@YouTube] (access to registrants only)

11:00am - 2:30pm : break [EF available for informal statistical consulting]

2:30pm - 3:20pm : Density estimation and local regression [lecture & practicum]
     * Presentation slides [.pdf] (access CfA only)
     * R commands script [.txt] (access CfA only)
     * Video [@YouTube] (access to registrants only)

3:30pm - 4:30pm : Regression [lecture & practicum]
     * Presentation slides [.pdf] (access CfA only)
     * R commands script [.txt] (access CfA only)
     * Video [@YouTube] (access to registrants only)

Friday, Jan 31


9:00am - 10:20am : Multivariate analysis, clustering, and classification [lecture & practicum]
     * Presentation slides [.pdf] (access CfA only)
     * R commands script [.txt] (access CfA only)
     * Video [@YouTube] (access to registrants only)

10:30am - 11:30am : Spatial point processes [lecture & practicum]
     * Presentation slides [.pdf] (access CfA only)
     * R commands script [.txt] (access CfA only)
     * Video [@YouTube] (access to registrants only)

11:30am - 1:30pm : break [EF available for informal statistical consulting]

1:30pm - 2:20pm : Poisson processes & upper limits [Vinay Kashyap, CfA/CHASC]
     * presentation slides [.pdf]

2:30pm - 3:30pm : Common statistical mistakes in astronomical research [general interest lecture]
     * Presentation slides [.pdf] (access CfA only)
     * Video [@YouTube] (access to registrants only)

Contacts

Eric Feigelson (e5f @ psu . edu)
Vinay Kashyap (vkashyap @ cfa . harvard . edu)
Aneta Siemiginowska (asiemiginowska @ cfa . harvard . edu)
Pete Ratzlaff (pratzlaff @ cfa . harvard . edu)

changelog

2014-jan-02: set up page.
2014-jan-10: added webcast info. Total number of registrants as of 5pm EST: 63
2014-jan-22: added google drive scratch space. Total number of registrants as of 1pm EST: 88
2014-jan-23: test-driving CHASC logo (made by Joe DePasquale)
2014-jan-27: Total number of registrants at 95. Turned off registration page.
2014-jan-28: Pete will be monitoring the google doc scratch space.
2014-feb-03: added VK slides
2014-feb-07: added EF slides and R scripts
2014-mar-20: added videos on Regression, Multivariate analysis, clustering, and classification, and Spatial point processes
2014-mar-21: added videos on Intro to Astrostat and R, and Common statistical mistakes
2014-mar-25: added video on Density Estimation and Local Regression
2020-feb-03: removed link to google doc scratch space
2024-jan-30: removed access restrictions to slides and videos, and added other locations which also host thetutorial scripts and slides



CHASC / ASAIP

AstroStat Tutorial
by Eric Feigelson
Jan 29 & Jan 31, 2014
Description
Webcast
Schedule
Jan 29
Jan 31
Contacts
changelog





CHASC / ASAIP