Participant Testimonials
The conference was wonderful. I found out about a new model for dynamic networks that my student and I will examine this semester. I also got caught up on several areas that I had not followed closely for the last few years.
Statistics, Duke University
The reception some of my ideas got has motivated me to work faster on some of them with a view towards publication. They are joint work with a PhD student so I'm hopeful it will help his career as well. Certainly, I made new contacts (I even got invited to be an AE for a journal!) and kept up with developments in the work of some people I follow. Of particular note is that one researcher gave a talk and I didn't know she was working in that area (longitudinal) so I have asked her to read over a section of a review paper I'm working on and she agreed. That will be helpful to me. The workshop left me with the overwhelming feeling that sparsity issues, which were a major topic of the talks, has been pushed about as far as it can be. It told me we need new ideas since we've hit the limit of the old ones. This is particularly true in the statistical side of data mining and machine learning. I think I saw some glimmers of new ideas that might become important in the future, especially predictive criteria ...but only time will tell. I think we need another conference!!!
My research recently stalled and this workshop was a lifesaver! It was very stimulating to meet with other people in my research area and to hear what they are doing. I'm now much more enthusiastic about some of my ongoing projects and thinking about new ones. This is quite a small research area and it's easy to feel isolated and somewhat alienated from the mainstream of the discipline. A small workshop is ideal for bringing potential collaborators together and renewing existing ones.
The workshop was small enough for me to get to know all the participants in person. It was interesting that some presenters are using the same datasets with mine, taking different approach to research to a different finding. I could also hear a presentation which supports our methodologies. In summary, the workshop was very motivating for me to proceed my research in this field.
I saw several talks that change how I think about topics I will teach. I also got some good research ideas that I started following up on while on the trip home. In addition I met some up and coming Canadian statisticians that I expect to keep in touch with over the years.
Statistics, Stanford University
The conference is great. Talks are interesting and I learned a lot. I like small conference like this one so that participants can interact well with each other.
I am very pleased I was invited to participate of this workshop. The level of the talks and interaction with colleagues were excellent. For example, Matias, Yumi, and I had very nice discussions with Alejandro Murua (from U. of Montreal) We believe we started a very nice future collaboration. I also had fruitful discussions with other participants including Steven Wang and Bert Clarke. The facilities and accommodations were outstanding. Thank you VERY MUCH.
The program was excellent and all of the talks were of high quality. A lot of fresh ideas were conveyed and exchanged during the workshop. I liked that all the talks were plenary, so that I would not worry about missing any of them! I truly enjoyed the communications after the talks, informal chats in the evening, and conversations with other participants during the meals. Actually, some new research ideas came up over my conversation with a speaker, and we started the collaborations now. Statistical learning is an important research area under rapid development. This workshop was just on time. It was at a proper scale, making it very easy for participants to talk with each other for a long time.
Mathematics, University of Arizona
