The following Professional Development workshops will be offered during the 2023 Annual Meeting:
An Introduction to R for Fishery Students and Researchers
Course Date: Sunday/Monday, March 26-27, 2023; 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM with a 1.5-hour lunch break
Course Location: In-person and virtual
Instructors: Isaac Nyameke, Ph.D. student; UAF; inyameke@alaska.edu
Nabahel Rex-Oneal, M.S. student; UAF
Cost: $80 for students; $100 for AFS members; $120 for non-AFS members
Capacity: Minimum attendance is 5; maximum capacity is 20 students.
Description: R is one of the most used tools in the fisheries sector for data analysis. Getting the fundament knowledge would be useful for your research as a student or a researcher. However, it is often hard to learn at the beginning because of the errors you may encounter. It is for this reason that this workshop is organized to share some of the tips you need to avoid the errors such as basic R commands, what to do in each stage, performing basic statistical analysis, and data visualizations. We will use “tidyverse” techniques, do plotting with ggplot, date setting, and read file among others. I do encourage undergraduate students to take this workshop. This course does not require any prior R experience as well as knowledge of statistics. It is recommended that participants bring their own laptop.
Instructor Isaac Nyameke is a Ph.D. Fisheries and Blue Economy student and Teaching Assistant at the University of Alaska, Fairbank (USA) and a scholar at Tamamta (All of Us-Indigenous student empowerment) Program. His research interest focuses on why African marine fisheries production differ per country and what fishing mechanism can be adopted to ensure sustainable fisheries in Africa for food security and poverty alleviation. Isaac is working under the supervision of Dr. Courtney Carothers and Dr. Peter Westley. His educational background spans from Ghana, Netherlands, USA, South Korea and Canada with double master’s degree. Isaac has a wide range of working experience in fisheries in Africa, Europe, Asia and Northern America as a consultant for African Union, UNDP, ECOWAS, World Bank, FARA and as a collaborator with a number of ocean research institutions and groups.
If you have any questions about whether this course would be beneficial or a good fit for you, please email the instructor.
Science Communication – Tips from a Former Journalist Turned Scientist
Course Date: Monday, March 27, 2023; 10:00 AM – 5 PM with a 1-hour lunch break
Course Location: In-person and virtual
Instructor: Kelly Ireland, Ph.D. candidate; UAA/UAF; ksireland@alaska.edu
Cost: $50 for students; $60 for AFS members; $75 for non-AFS members
Capacity: Minimum attendance is 10 people; maximum capacity is 25 students
Description: Science means nothing if scientists cannot communicate it to the masses. This course will give scientists tips and tricks for making their science more accessible to the general public and scientists alike. The course will discuss how to simplify complex ideas, know your audience, and story structure in scientific writing. Participants will put their new knowledge to work while workshopping their own abstracts or other short writing sample throughout the day. The course will then go over examples of successful scientific communication to the general public and then brainstorm ideas to best share your work. Kelly will also share online tools for making quick and easy graphics. Finally, the course will cover interacting with news media to share your science – from contacting the news for coverage to answering news interview questions like a pro.
Instructor Kelly Ireland has a double B.A. in Biological Sciences and Journalism and Public Communications and M.S. in Biological Sciences and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in biology. Kelly spent seven years in the news and communications world before pursuing science full time and hopes to share her insights on successful communication with participants during this course.
If you have any questions about whether this course would be beneficial or a good fit for you, please email the instructor.
Introduction to Fly-Tying
Course Date: Monday, March 27, 2023; 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Course Location: In-person
Instructor: Stian Stensland, Associate professor; Norwegian University of Life Sciences/UAF; stian.stensland@nmbu.no
Co-Instructors: Joe Spencer, Kevin Fitzgerald, Ben Rich, and Will Samuel, Graduate Students; UAF
Cost: $15 for students; $25 for AFS members; $30 for non-AFS members
Capacity: Minimum attendance is 4 people; maximum capacity is 20 students
Description: Learn the basics of fly-tying and tie flies proven to catch fish in Alaska. Fly-tying is an exciting activity that strengthens your angling experience and a deepens the connection to what lives under water. We will go through techniques for easy to tie wet fly, nymph, dry fly and streamer patterns for freshwater fishing. Equipment and materials provided.
Instructor Stian Stensland is an associate professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and a visiting research scholar at CFOS UAF. His research focuses on the Human dimensions of fisheries, wildlife, and nature-based tourism. Stensland and his fellow co-instructors have many years of experience with fly-tying and fly-fishing in Alaska and other places.
If you have any questions about whether this course would be beneficial or a good fit for you, please email the instructor.
Register for workshops on Whova. You can register for a workshop without registering for the meeting by selecting the “Workshops or add-ons only” ticket type (free).
If you have questions about workshops at the 2023 meeting, or if you are a student with financial need and would like to request a tuition waiver, please contact Sara Miller, sara.miller@alaska.gov.
