Winter Storm will be January 11-14 and January 18-20

RSVP by January 4!

Winter Storm is the UMD Language Science community’s yearly two-week series of seminars and workshops designed to foster research skills, stimulate new interdisciplinary research projects, and boost career growth and job readiness. These workshops are FREE and open to all language scientists, encompassing undergraduates, research assistants, grad students, postdocs, faculty members, and researchers at affiliated research institutes.

This year the event will be hybrid. We want to offer the benefits of an in-person event to people who feel comfortable participating, while also making most sessions available online for those who can't. We will be implementing some measures to reduce the risk of COVID transmission at our in-person sessions:

• All participants must wear a KN95 or equivalent mask. (If you don't have one already, you may still be able to get one from Stamp; we have also ordered a supply that will be available at the LSC.)
• We encourage you to get tested before coming to campus. (See this page for information about getting tested on campus.)
• Hopefully this goes without saying by now: if you feel sick, don't come to campus!
• We will serve lunch in a separate room from the rest of Winter Storm activities (the large double classroom nextdoor to the LSC, where there's plenty of room to spread out). Those that feel comfortable can take their masks off and eat together there; you can also take your food outside or to a more private location.
• We will have coffee and tea available in the Hub, but participants should keep their masks on when they're not actively drinking.

Tentative schedule

All talks and workshops are hybrid unless otherwise specified, in person in the Garage (2124 H.J. Patterson) and online on Zoom (https://umd.zoom.us/j/94537353715 or https://go.umd.edu/ws2022zoom). The Hub will be available throughout, with "quiet hours" before noon for writing. Discussion/working groups will meet in various rooms around the Language Science Center, depending on size, and in the organizer's Zoom room (see below for links).

Program details

Data analysis skills

• Introduction to R (Kathleen Oppenheimer, 10-11:30am, 1/11 - 1/13, IN PERSON ONLY). This series is intended for people with little experience using R for data analysis. Learn the basics so you can start playing with your own data! Participants should bring a laptop and install R and RStudio (https://www.rstudio.com/products/rstudio/download/#download) before attending the workshop.

• RMarkdown (for intermediate/advanced R users) (Meg Cychosz, 10-11:30am, 1/18, ONLINE ONLY). In this R session, we will work with markdown to facilitate clean, replicable code pipelines. Additional topics include: in-line coding, in-line tables using ‘Kable’, and an introduction to incorporating other languages (Python) into your RMarkdowns. Please download the following Github repository: https://github.com/megseekosh/winter_storm_2021 and RStudio prior to joining.

• NLP-powered auditory data processing (Masato Nakamura, 10-11:30am, 1/19). This session introduces an NLP-powered pipeline for automatized transcription and onset detection of auditory data to help minimize the trouble of hand coding. This session is intended for people with basic python skills.

Communication skills

• Improving your writing (Nan Zhang and Shevaun Lewis, 1/11 2:30-3:30, 1/13 1-2pm, 1/19 2:30-3:30pm). For this series, we'll be following the first few units of the Coursera course Writing in the Sciences. Participants will watch the videos at home (about an hour per session). During sessions, we'll implement the techniques to revise and improve our own writing. You'll need to bring a piece of writing you can revise (e.g. a class paper, personal statement, conference abstract, research statement... almost anything you wrote for a deadline could probably benefit from revision!)

• Communicating language science to a broad audience (Erika Exton, Kathleen Oppenheimer, Lauren Salig, Craig Thorburn)
  1. Working with science outreach organizations (2:30-3:30pm, 1/12). Members of the outreach committee will tell us about two ways that individuals can get involved in language science outreach. Members will provide an overview of the organizations Skype A Scientist (skypeascientist.com) and Letters to a Pre-Scientist (prescientist.org) as well as their own experiences participating in those organizations. They will provide suggestions for best practices for language scientists volunteering with these groups, based on their own experiences, including sharing resources they have developed. We will have ample time for discussion of ways that language scientists can prepare for volunteer work with these organizations including workshopping ways to address misconceptions and common questions that come up during scientist visits.
  2. Language Science Communication: Brainstorming and workshop (1-2pm, 1/18). Building off of what we learned in session 1 about opportunities for individuals to get involved in language science outreach, we will discuss ideas for communicating one’s own research and/or key concepts from language science to various K-12 audiences. Outreach members will provide an overview of best practices based on our work and a review of the relevant literature; attendees will also have opportunities to give each other feedback and practice short pitches about their work. Ideally, attendees will come with a list of 2-3 topics they’d like to workshop, but no preparation is necessary. Attending session 1 is not a requirement.
  3. Informal discussion with Emily Gref, Manager of Curatorial Affairs at Planet Word (1-2pm, 1/20, online only).

• Getting started with grant writing (Meg Cychosz, 1-2pm, date TBA). Learn from a postdoc who was offered fellowship grants from both NSF and NIH!

Career development

• Choosing your career path (Shevaun Lewis, 1-2pm, 1/12). Deciding what exactly to do with your PhD can be daunting, whether you’re planning to stay in academia or not. In this session, you’ll learn some strategies to identify your priorities, strengths and weaknesses, and some tools for exploring career options.
• Alumni panel: Research careers outside the university setting (1-2pm, date TBA). [POSTPONED TO THE SPRING SEMESTER] PhD and postdoc alumni join us to discuss options for pursuing research in non-university contexts. Hybrid session; panelists will join by Zoom.
• Faculty life stories / Ask Me Anything (1-2pm, 1/11 and 1/19). Find out the sports they played in high school, why they ended up in their field, how they landed that sweet faculty job, and anything else you can think to ask!
  • 1/11: Juan Uriagereka (LING, Director of SLLC)
  • 1/19: Kathy Dow-Burger (HESP)

Discussion/working groups

• Language and oscillations: In this discussion group, we are planning to read and discuss a wide range of topics related to language & oscillations, including endogenous vs. exogenous oscillations, the function of oscillations, as well as the relationship between oscillations and speech perception & syntax. (Zoom: https://umd.zoom.us/j/98989871127. In person (if any): LSC conference room. Contact Xinchi Yu with questions.)
• Bilingualism: Join the #bilingualism channel on the UMD Language Scientists Slack workspace for updates. First meeting will be in the LSC Garage. Zoom: https://umd.zoom.us/j/98766650623?pwd=K3RhdG00bWVHSWJtODZna3dHR2JKUT09
• Language and education: TBA.