Download A couple of weeks ago, we sent to ASAIP members a partial list of

A couple of weeks ago, we sent to ASAIP members a partial list of forthcoming meetings,
summer schools and Hack Day events (below). Three interesting items should be added to
the list:
Astro Hack Week 2016 (Berkeley CA USA, 29 Aug – 2 Sep) This is partly a summer
school with lectures and exercises for working effectively with large astronomical datasets.
But the afternoons are unstructured, a hackathon for collaborative research, breakout
sessions, and applications.
Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems: ADASS XXVI (16-20 Oct,
Trieste IT) This is the long-standing annual forum for scientists and programmers concerned
with algorithms and software involved in the acquisition, reduction, analysis and
dissemination of astronomical data. It is followed by the Interoperability Workshop of the
International Virtual Observatory Alliance (Trieste) and IAU Symposium #325 Astroinfo16
(Sorrento).
Mining the sky Knowledge discovery in big and complex astronomical data sets
and data streams (6-9 Dec Athens GR) This is the first-ever meeting on astroinformatics
sponsored by the enormous IEEE engineering society. It is part of the large 2016 IEEE
Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence and Data Mining, so there will be many
opportunities to learn state-of-the-art techniques and connect with leading computer
scientists.
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ASAIP Editorsʼ Blog, May 2016
Greetings,
We are pleased to present another casual review of the contents of the Astrostatistics &
Astroinformatics Portal. ASAIP serves members of the astronomical, statistical and
information sciences communities who are interested in the use of advanced methodology to
further analysis and understanding of astronomical data. ASAIP receives 100 visits each
day; visitors come from ~140 countries led by United States, United Kingdom, India,
Germany and Canada. Most visitors come directly to ASAIP, but some are channeled
through the ASAIP Facebook page or Cross Validated Q&A site. During the 2016-season
hiring season, ASAIP listed nearly 100 jobs which received over 1000 page-views. It has
over 2000 searchable papers with titles, authors and abstracts.
As we approach summertime, many of us are planning conference and professional
development opportunities. Here we highlight four important international meetings, several
educational Summer Schools, and the newer Hack Day interactive programming
gatherings. Finally, we summarize some of the recent developments at one of ASAIPʼs
participating organizations, the International Astrostatistics Association.
International meetings:

COSMO21: Statistical Challenges in 21st Century Cosmology (Chania GR, 24-27
May) This is a followup conference to the successful IAU Symposium #306 in Lisbon
(2014). Today cosmology is largely based on a web of nonlinear estimation and
regression problems involving both complex and large datasets. Progress is rapid and
sophisticated methods are widely used.

SCMA VI: Statistical Challenges in Modern Astronomy VI (Pittsburgh PA USA, 610
June) This is a continuation of the SCMA conferences held at Penn State University
every five years since 1991. These meetings bring together statisticians and
astronomers to discuss progress on many fronts: time series analysis, cosmological
models, planetary systems orbiting other stars, and general understanding of
astronomical data.

Statistical, Mathematical and Computational Methods for Astronomy (Research
Triangle NC USA, August 2016 through August 2017) This is not a normal meeting!
The NSF-sponsored Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute is hosting a
year-long research program on astrostatistics and astroinformatics. The goals are
opened, encouraging cross-disciplinary teams to tackle forefront methodological
problems. The program includes an Opening Workshop 22-26 August, a graduate
course during Fall 2016. Planned Working Groups cover time domain astronomy, signal
processing and population modeling for exoplanets, gravitational waves and cosmology.
Travel funding for U.S.-based participants may be available.

IAU Symposium #325 Astroinformatics (Sorrento IT, 20-24 October) This is the
first
ever society-sponsored international conference in the rapidly growing effort to confront
the Big Data deluge emerging from new astronomical instruments. Problems include
data storage; management & promulgation; efficient algorithms for astrophysically
interesting calculations; multicore CPU/GPU computation on both local and distributed
sites; and data visualization. Leaders worldwide will gather for the first time to
consolidate achievements and plan for the future.
Summer Schools:

International School of Computational Astrophysics (Les Houches FR, 16-27 May)

ADA8: 8th Astronomical Data Analysis Summer School (Chania GR, 22-24 May)

Summer School in Statistics for Astronomers XII (State College PA USA, 31 May - 4
June)

2016 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Workshop (Pasadena CA USA, 18-22 July)

11th Heidelberg Summer School on Astrostatistics and Data Mining (Heidelberg DE,
12-16 September)
Hack Day events:

Astropy Google Summer of Code 2016 (22 April - 23 August, Everywhere)

.Astronomy 8 (Oxford UK, 20-23 June)

3rd COIN Residence Program (21-28 August, Budapest HU)
Developments at the IAA:
The International Astrostatistics Association was formed early in the reemergence of the field
(2010) affiliated with the International Statistical Institute.
It has recently completed
several organizational changes. It has an office at the Brera Astronomical Observatory in
Milan IT, has issues awards for Outstanding Contributions to Astrostatistics, Outstanding
Publications, and elected Fellows of the IAA. It has two sections, several committees, and a
leadership
Council. The IAA organizes sessions at ISI-sponsored World Statistics Congresses and
encourages small gatherings as part of the COsmostatistics INitiative. Most dramatically, the
IAA has an elegant new logo shown below, submitted by Arvind Ramessur, Hartebesthoek
Radio Astronomy Observatory, South Africa (formerly of the University of Mauritius). You can
follow IAA activities on ASAIP here.
Please let us know if you have any problems with, or suggestions for improving, the
Astrostatistics & Astroinformatics Portal.
Your editors,
Eric Feigelson & Joe Hilbe
International
Astrostatistics
Association