NESCent Academy will be hosting two workshops this summer that may be of interest to folks reading this blog and the deadline for applications is 1st May 2014.

Paleobiological and Phylogenetic Approaches to Macroevolution, July 22-29 

This course will teach participants to use fossil and phylogenetic data to analyze macroevolutionary patterns using traditional paleobiological stratigraphic methods, phylogenetic comparative methods and combined fossil and tree approaches. Macroevolutionary research is currently split into two quite isolated branches, one based on fossils and the other on extant taxa and phylogenies. Increasingly,evolutionary biologists in both camps are realizing that, only by combining neontological and paleontological data and approaches, can a new, and more powerful integrative macroevolution emerge. Unfortunately, these two disciplines utilize very different data and quantitative methods. Therefore to truly initiate a synthesis of these two approaches we need to train students and researchers to understand the intricacies of both fossil and phylogenetic data, and the methods necessary to integrate them.  APPLY HERE. More information can be found here.

Instructors
Roger Benson Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford
Samantha Hopkins Clark Honors College and the Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon
Gene Hunt Dept. of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, The Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 20013-7012, USA.
Samantha Price Dept. Evolution & Ecology, University of California Davis
Daniel Rabosky Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan
Lars Schmitz Keck Science Department, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges
Graham Slater Dept. of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, The Smithsonian Institution

Phylogenetic Analysis Using RevBayes, August 25-31

The Bayesian statistical framework for phylogeny estimation has facilitated the development of models that better capture biological complexity. This course is built around the use of the new, open-source program RevBayes (http://sourceforge.net/projects/revbayes/). RevBayes implements an R-like language (complete with control statements, user-defined functions, and loops) that enables the user to build up phylogenetic models from simple parts. This course cover the basics of probability theory, graphical models, and phylogenetics. Then, building on these concepts, we will provide lectures on statistical methods for phylogenetic inference, macroevolution, and epidemiology. APPLY HERE. More information can be found here.

Instructors
Bastien Boussau, LBBE, Lyon, France
Tracy Heath, UC Berkeley & U Kansas
Sebastian Höhna, UC Davis & UC Berkeley
John Huelsenbeck, UC Berkeley
Michael Landis, UC Berkeley
Nicolas Lartillot, LBBE, Lyon, France
Brian Moore, UC Davis
Fredrik Ronquist, NRM Stockholm
Tanja Stadler, ETH Zürich