2026 ASA Alaska Chapter Annual Workshop and Meeting

The 2026 Alaska Chapter of the American Statistical Association (ASA) will host its Annual Workshop and Meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 16-17, 2026. The event will take place daily from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM in Room 401 of the Akasofu Building at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The workshop's primary focus is "Using and developing algorithms for hierarchical models with NIMBLE, including MCMC and Laplace approximation-based methods." It will offer hands-on training covering various aspects of NIMBLE, such as model setup, MCMC sampling strategies (including Hamiltonian Monte Carlo), writing new distributions and functions, improving computational efficiency, and utilizing Laplace approximation-based methods like NIMBLE's INLA-like nested posterior approximation. Specialized model components, including Bayesian non-parametric distributions, CAR models, and reversible jump samplers, will also be covered based on participant interest, alongside an introduction to programming new algorithms with automatic differentiation. Chris Paciorek, an Adjunct Professor and research computing consultant from the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, will instruct the workshop. Paciorek is a co-PI and core development team member of the NIMBLE software project, specializing in Bayesian and spatial statistics with applications in environmental and public health research. Attendees should have a background in statistics and basic R familiarity, though no prior NIMBLE experience is required. Registration is required for all participants. The general registration fee for the two-day meeting, which includes two catered lunches, coffee, and refreshments for in-person attendees, is $400. This rate applies through June 8. A late registration rate of $450 will be charged after June 8. An online-only Zoom conference option is available for $150, covering access to both workshops but excluding lunch. Student fee waivers and travel funds are available on a case-by-case basis, subject to need and available funds, by contacting the organizer, Derek Arnold, at [email protected].