CRMDA Workgroups

CRMDA "work groups" are voluntary study groups in which participants discuss their research projects. The Center is always open to the formation of new work groups. We can help group organizers to obtain space and advertise their activities.

Python for Research Projects

Time: Friday, 12PM Watson Library Room 455

Leader: Jacob Fowles, CRMDA Faculty Fellow

Python is a general-purpose programming language that is increasingly viewed as an essential tool. It is frequently mentioned in job advertisements in "big data" analysis. Python can be used for data collection, cleaning, analysis and visualization. The group explores how Python can be used carrying out research projects, as decided upon by the group. Researchers who are using Python for "real" data projects are especially welcome to join and share their progress.

Bayesian Analysis Workgroup

Time: Friday, 11AM Watson Library Room 455

Leader: Jonathan Templin, CRMDA Faculty Fellow

Bayesian statistical analysis is increasingly widely used in social, educational, and physical sciences. This group explores example applications and compares various computational strategies.

Big Dynamic Data

Time: Thursday, 1PM Watson Library Room 400B

Leader: Clay Webb, CRMDA Faculty Fellow

Social scientists now have access to a host of new application program interfaces (APIs) that facilitate the acquisition of large volumes of high frequency time series data. The New York Times, Twitter, and other sites have APIs they make available. This working group is being formed around the collection and analysis of these types of data. We will discuss how APIs can be used to download these data directly into software programs and the statistical tools one needs to analyze these data.

Cluster Computing

Time: Friday, 10AM (may re-schedule) Watson Library Room 475 (may re-locate to larger room)

Leader: Paul Johnson, CRMDA Director

This group will develop working examples for usage high performance computing (HPC) systems. We will revise existing working examples for HPC (parallel-programs) and develop new examples. The selection of new projects is driven by the needs of the group participants.

A Google Group for our Workgroups

A Google Group named "CRMDA-workgroups" is being used to aggregate the activities of these workgroups. If you might like to join, you can request an invitation at or contact one of the group leaders directly and they can add you to the list. To request an invitation, log in on https://groups.google.com. You should be able to search for "CRMDA-workgroups".

The Aggregated Calendar of Workgroup Schedules