R Boot Camp for Ecologists & Wildlife Biologists
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Learn the basics of R from an experienced research ecologist, resource manager, and wildlife professor who will help you organize and display your data for reports, publications, and future analysis. Learn from the ground up, beginning with loading and organizing ecological datasets in RStudio to building beautiful plots for publication. Unlike many R courses, most examples used during the course are tailored to the needs of students, researchers, and professionals in ecology and wildlife-related disciplines. After completing this course, consider enrolling in Introduction to Ecological Statistics & Modeling to build on your foundation in R by learning the essential quantitative skills needed to be successful in research at school and work.
This is a 1-credit equivalent academic course (16 contact hrs + additional work) where you learn at your own pace over 3 months. This is NOT a “Watch me use R” course where your instructor presents a series of tutorials.
PREREQUISITES
No prior experience in R is necessary.
This course is a prerequisite for Introduction to Ecological Statistics & Modeling and other courses in our Applied Quantitative Ecology program.
Instructor
Dr. Jack Hopkins
Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology
COURSE FORMATS, CREDITS, DATES, & PRICING
FORMAT: Learn at your own pace over 3 months as you work through prerecorded lectures and exercises.
CONTINUING EDUCATION: This course has been pre-approved for continuing education by (1) the Ecological Society of America for 4 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in Category I(a): Scientific Education and Training, and (2) The Wildlife Society for 16 CEUs in Category I of the Certified Wildlife Biologist® Renewal/Professional Development Certificate Program. Participants must complete all exercises to pass the course (P/F) and receive a CWS Certificate of Course Completion, which can be submitted to ESA and TWS for CEUs. See our Continuing Education Page for more details about CEUs with ESA and TWS.
*** This version of the course can NOT be used to earn academic credit from your college or university, certify as a Professional Ecologist with ESA or a Wildlife Biologist® with TWS, or used to earn a professional certificate with CWS. ***
DATES & PRICES:
Spring: Mar 4 - May 26: $400 professional / $300 student
Summer: June 3 - Aug 25 (early bird* ends May 6): $350 professional / $250 student
Fall: Sept 3 - Nov 24 (early bird* ends Aug 5): $350 professional / $250 student
*Early bird saves $50
FORMAT: Reach out to your instructor for help with course materials as you work through prerecorded lectures and exercises. Instructor support includes emailing your instructor, accessing live discussion threads, attending group meetings, and scheduling one-on-one appointments (Zoom or phone) about course materials, your research, datasets from work, etc. You will have access to course materials for the 3-month term. After working through 8 modules, set up an optional meeting with the instructor to discuss your own personal project from work or school.
CONTINUING EDUCATION: This course has been pre-approved for continuing education by (1) the Ecological Society of America for 4 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in Category I(a): Scientific Education and Training, and (2) The Wildlife Society for 16 CEUs in Category I of the Certified Wildlife Biologist® Renewal/Professional Development Certificate Program. Participants must complete all exercises to pass the course (P/F) and receive a CWS certificate of course completion, which can be submitted to ESA and TWS for CEUs. See our Continuing Education Page for more details about CEUs with ESA and TWS.
ESA & TWS CERTIFICATION: Participants that earn a B- or better can use this 1-credit course to help meet the minimum education requirements (in Chemistry, Physical Sciences, and Mathematics) to certify as a Professional Ecologist with ESA. Participants that earn a D or better can use this 1-credit course in their application to certify as a Wildlife Biologist® with TWS. See our Professional Certification Page for more details about ESA and TWS certification.
*** This version of the course can NOT be used to earn academic credit from your college or university or to earn a professional certificate with CWS. See the PREMIUM format below ***
DATES & PRICES:
Spring: Mar 4 - May 26: $550 professional / $450 student
Summer: June 3 - Aug 25 (early bird* ends May 6): $500 professional / $400 student
Fall: Sept 3 - Nov 24 (early bird* ends Aug 5): $500 professional / $400 student
*Early bird saves $50
FORMAT: Reach out to your instructor for help with course materials as you work through prerecorded lectures and exercises. Instructor support includes emailing your instructor, accessing live discussion threads, attending group meetings, and scheduling one-on-one appointments (Zoom or phone) about course materials, your research, datasets from work, etc. You will have access to course materials for 1 year. After working through 8 modules, set up an optional meeting with the instructor to discuss your own personal project from work or school.
CONTINUING EDUCATION: This course has been pre-approved for continuing education by (1) the Ecological Society of America for 4 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) in Category I(a): Scientific Education and Training, and (2) The Wildlife Society for 16 CEUs in Category I of the Certified Wildlife Biologist® Renewal/Professional Development Certificate Program. Participants must complete all exercises to pass the course (P/F) and receive a CWS certificate of course completion, which can be submitted to ESA and TWS for CEUs. See our Continuing Education Page for more details about CEUs with ESA and TWS.
ESA & TWS CERTIFICATION: Participants that earn a B- or better can use this 1-credit course to help meet the minimum education requirements (in Chemistry, Physical Sciences, and Mathematics) to certify as a Professional Ecologist with ESA. Participants that earn a D or better can use this 1-credit course in their application to certify as a Wildlife Biologist® with TWS. See our Professional Certification Page for more details about ESA and TWS certification.
ACADEMIC CREDIT: This 1-credit course can be taken with pre-approval from an administrator at a your college or university. For an additional fee, students also have the option to complete an Applied Project for an additional 1-2 academic credits (earning up to 2-3 academic credits in total). See our Academic Credit Page for details.
CWS PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE: CWS requires a grade of a B- or higher for the course to count toward earning a Professional Certificate in Applied Quantitative Ecology.
DATES & PRICES:
Spring: Mar 4 - May 26: $650 professional / $550 student
Summer: June 3 - Aug 25 (early bird* ends May 6): $600 professional / $500 student
Fall: Sept 3 - Nov 24 (early bird* ends Aug 5): $600 professional / $500 student
*Early bird saves $50
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Explain the difference between R and RStudio
Install R and RStudio on your computer
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Operate RStudio to perform basic math operations
Assign values to create objects
Create vectors to perform math and stats operations
Understand how to use different functions to perform summary stats
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Load and use R packages
Read in data and create data frames
Subset data to explore a dataset
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Import data from files
Know when to view and use tibbles and full datasets in RStudio
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Identify variables, observations, and values in dataset
Demonstrate proficiency in pivoting, separating, and uniting columns in tables
Detect explicit and implicit missing values in a dataset
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Join tables using: mutating joins, filtering joins, set operations
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Use R functions to:
rename variables
pick variables by their names
pick observations by their values
reorder rows
create new variables with functions of existing variables
analyze the data frame by groups
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Identify appropriate figure styles for your data type
Use of ggplot2 syntax to present data visually
“This course was an excellent introduction to R. I had no experience using any programming language before, and teaching myself seemed too daunting. I appreciate Dr. Hopkins' instruction style because he provides you with the tools you need to use R in any capacity, with as much or as little support as you'd like. I finished the course with not only a solid understanding of what we covered, but a feeling that I can build off this foundation and learn more as I continue to explore R in my professional field.”
Helen Yurek
Wildlife Research Biologist, Assistant Toxicology Lab Supervisor
“Make it stand outExcellent course with detailed explanation. The way the instructor covers the course really helps you understand R especially for a beginner like me. All the topics are covered and practice exercises are provided to help you test your abilities. I highly recommend this course.”
Mira Husseini
Project Assistant, Marine programme, International Union for Conservation of Nature
“I have taken several different introductory R courses, and so far, R Bootcamp for Ecologists & Wildlife Biologists has been one of the best. One thing I have found to be missing in other courses is an applicable orientation to R studio, and how to use it to work with biological and ecological data, specifically. Dr. Hopkins did an excellent job of reviewing statistics concepts relevant to basic data visualization. If you have been frustrated with trying to bridge the gap between basic R code and using R Studio for your own data, this is the course for you.”
Morgan Brown
Water Quality Specialist, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
“This course was very clear and made it simple for me to get started in R. Until I tried this course, R was confusing and frustrating for me. The instructor was great; he was responsive, easy to understand, and started with techniques and basics that made R a lot easier for me to understand. I also loved that the course focused on hands-on practice in RStudio, both during lectures and in the Exercises.”
Claire Marvet
Program Associate for the California Council of Land Trusts
“I’ve tried at least three times, all unsuccessfully, to learn R until I took the R Boot Camp for Ecologists course offered by Dr. Hopkins! Thanks to the R Boot Camp for Ecologists course provided by CWS, I am walking into our Ecology Lab this morning with code written for individual groups of students all asking different questions about the system we are studying. Six months ago I couldn’t even tell them how to set their working directory. As someone who has spent most of the past 20 years working and teaching others how to teach evolution, I feel I have some lifetime experience in being able to say honestly and professionally that the R Boot Camp course has been transformative for me and I plan to continue taking the other courses offered through CWS.”
Louise Mead
Department of Integrative Biology, Graduate Program Director, Michigan State University
SCHOLARSHIPS
Full scholarships are available to participants from countries designated as “lower income” and “lower middle income” in the World Bank List of Economies. Please see our CWS World Scholars Program page for details.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Cancellations 30 days or more before the start date are not subject to cancellation fees. Cancellations <30 days before the start date are subject to a 50% cancellation fee. No refunds once the course begins.