(this post is by Charles)
Applications for the MSc and PhD programs in statistics at the University of British Columbia are now open. The application deadline is December 1st for PhDs and January 5th for MSc.
Of interest to the readership of this blog is that we have a lot of momentum in the department for research in Bayesian modeling, computational statistics, and probabilistic machine learning. Amongst the new faculty hires, Saif Syed and myself are both starting research groups to work on algorithms for probabilistic modeling. And we have an established guard working on Bayesian computation, that includes Alexandre Bouchard-Côté, Trevor Campbell, and Geoff Pleiss.
Furthermore, the department stands out through its commitment to implementing novel methods in high-performance probabilistic software. In the department, you will find the creators and maintainers of Pigeon.jl and GPyTorch. And, as some of you may know, I’m myself a seasoned Stan developer. I’m also happy to report that we have some veteran Stan users on campus, notably in the Ecology department :)
We’re a quite large and growing department with interests that span all areas of statistics (not just Bayesian methods!). PhD students entering the program do not need to be matched up with an advisor upon admission—rather, you have one year to interact with faculty and explore a number of topics. The program does a really good job allowing and helping students do that!
Vancouver is a really beautiful and bustling city. The campus is right by the ocean and you’re a one hour drive away from hiking in the mountains. I’m new and still figuring out the place, but so far, I’ve found the quality of life here to be very good. By the way, it doesn’t get that cold, because of the ocean currents and we rarely get snow in the city (but we still have skiing nearby). We do get rain and somewhat British weather…
One final point: Unlike in the U.S., application to the PhD program requires a masters degree. However, if you only have a bachelor’s degree and are committed to pursuing a PhD, exceptional candidates can apply to the PhD track program within the MSc program.
Your first link is broken, FYI.
For anyone considering this, Vancouver is an awesome city.
Hi Max,
Thank you for the catch. Link updated!
If only I could afford to live in Vancouver.
If I lived in Canada I think I would investigate options for tiny houses, off-grid living, and associated alternatives. I’ve been watching a lot of videos on youtube about that, and I reason such a thing might be better possible in countries where there still is lots of nature and wide open spaces and such things. I would imagine Canada would be a country that has such things, but I am not sure whether this is all possible given possible rules and regulations and such things.
Anon:
Canada has delicious bagels of the sort that you just can’t find anywhere else.
Sounds good, but I don’t like to travel. It seems the older I get, the more my likely very sensitive nervous system, anxieties, and stresses seem to stop me from doing things, including traveling. Perhaps the off-grid idea relates to that as well.
I did my share of traveling though when I was younger. I still have nice memories of cycling through France and Spain, doing a month long train tour through Europe, and flying to NYC and spending about a week there doing all the tourist stuff. The pizza there was amazing! That’s all enough traveling for me I think.
I think I would only want to travel if it was related to some job or project and it make sense for me to go and be there. Just like a PhD position, but not exactly that because that’s not what I want to do. But, being part of a project with a goal I think is important might be a reason to overcome my worries and fears and travel again. Or maybe something fun regarding poetry or lyric writing. I think it will take a (small) miracle for something like that to happen, but one never knows.
In the meantime, the internet perhaps sort of provides a way to “travel” and (indirectly) “engage with” people that might be more suitable for me (at this moment in time). I love watching certain youtube channels about furniture making, or aquariums, or music, that sort of provide a way to “travel” or “experience” things I guess. Perhaps it’s similar to what some people might experience when reading a book. Some excellent tv shows exist as well that I access via the internet that provide nice imagery, like the British TV show “Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing” which has some amazing scenery in it usually.
It’s interesting perhaps to ponder whether that latter stuff is sort of a way to “travel” and “experience”. Also in light of all those people doing things, like going to a concert or having dinner, that are recording things on their phone or making pictures. Are they really “there” then? Perhaps I can better “experience” music via my computer instead of going to a concert, because it’s simply too loud and too busy for me there to even be able to experience certain things.
Anyway, this is why I like this blog. You can go from PhD positions to off-grid living to bagels to pondering if you can (sort of) “travel” and “experience” things (perhaps even better) from behind your computer.