About

The UBC/SFU Joint Statistics Seminar is jointly hosted by the graduate students of the UBC Department of Statistics and the SFU Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science. The Spring 2025 event is the second of two events taking place in the 2024/2025 academic year. The Fall 2024 event was organized by graduate students from SFU, and the Spring 2025 event is organized by graduate students from UBC. Over its 20-year history, the event has offered Statistics and Actuarial Science graduate and undergraduate students at both schools an opportunity to network with their peers and to attend accessible talks about the research work of their fellow students and faculty.

The Spring 2025 event includes talks given by six students (three from UBC and three from SFU) and one faculty member from UBC.

Check out more events hosted by the UBC Statistics Graduate Student Association.

Registration

This term’s event will be hosted at UBC’s Earth Sciences Building (ESB 5104) on March 8, 2025. The event starts at 10:00 am. Register now through the registration form! If you are interested in presenting, please contact Johnny or Naitong.

Schedule

Breakfast

10:00am - 10:30am

Welcome Message

10:30am - 10:35am

Speaker 1 (UBC)

10:35am - 11:00am

Title

Abstract

Speaker 2 (SFU)

11:05am - 11:30am

Title

Abstract

Speaker 3 (UBC)

11:35am - 12:00pm

Title

Abstract

Lunch

12:00pm - 1:00pm

Speaker 4 (SFU)

1:00pm - 1:25pm

Title

Abstract

Speaker 5 (UBC)

1:30pm - 1:55pm

Title

Abstract

Speaker 6 (SFU)

2:00pm - 2:25pm

Title

Abstract

Break

2:25pm - 2:35pm

Prof. Geoff Pleiss (UBC)

2:35pm - 3:35pm

Lessons Learned from Developing and Maintaining Open Source Software

Open-source software is an integral part of modern statistical research. The factors contributing to a software project's success extend far beyond writing and releasing code, a lesson that statisticians often learn the hard way. In this talk, I will discuss what I learned from my experiences developing libraries like GPyTorch and LinearOperator, contributing to large-scale projects like PyTorch and BoTorch, and collaborating with other software developers on projects such as CoLA. I will examine key decisions in open-source development, including releasing a standalone library versus a code repository, best practices for maintenance, and strategies for engaging users and contributors. Additionally, I will explore challenges associated with project scoping, long-term maintenance, balancing software development with other academic responsibilities, and gracefully deprecating projects that are no longer sustainable. Finally, I will discuss the importance of (tedious but) good software development habits like version control hygiene, test-driven development, continual deployment, and pair programming.

Networking and Drinks at Browns!

3:40pm

Sponsors

Past Seminars

Fall 2024 | Spring 2024 | Fall 2023 | Spring 2023 | Fall 2022 | Spring 2022 | Fall 2021 | Spring 2021 | Fall 2020 | Spring 2020 |