Mikhail Dozmorov, PhD

• Associate professor, Department of Biostatistics, VCU

• Bioinformatics

• Genomics
• Data Science
• Computational Biology

https://medschool.vcu.edu/expertise/detail.html?id=mdozmorov

Class facilitator/TA

• Joseph Boyle

  • Ph.D. Student, Second Year
  • Student Representative

• He will be helping with homework assignments and online sessions

Biostatistical Computing with R

• This is a brand new course for me

• I expect to make mistakes or forget something

• Let's maintain a welcoming and supportive environment

  • Ask as many questions during the class as necessary! Worst case - I'll address them later, if not covered during the class
  • Respect each other

• Please keep your video on. I won't face your directly but will keep the participants' window on a second screen

• Lectures won't be recorded, so make all efforts to attend each class

  • Joseph will keep track of attendance

Teaching style

• Learning through practice - this means you will always do something hands-on

• While doing, you will need to google for help - you will learn a lot from other resources

• Always ask questions!

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Understand and utilize R/RStudio

• Share your code on GitHub

• Understand basic data types and data structures in R

• Execute and interpret some basic statistics in R

• Familiarize and load data files (Excel, Comma Separated Value files) into R/Rstudio, with tips on formatting and data organization

• Filter and format data in R for use with various routines

• Visualize datasets using ggplot2 and understand how to build basic plots using ggplot2 syntax

Rules for interaction

• Post questions in a chat

  • If anyone knows answers, please, post them there
  • I'll try to allocate time at the end of each class to review the chat
  • Note chat history is gone as soon as the lecture is ended

• Slack. See Slack 101

  • I will send invites using your VCU e-mail addresses - use them to join the #bios524 channel
  • Omit formalities, but be respectful and polite
  • Questions and answers posted there will be available for everyone - answer them if you can, or I'll address them
  • Direct messages are possible - use them to ask private questions or schedule a meeting
  • I'll try to answer your questions asap, typically, within 24 hours

Class Assignments

• Homeworks should be submitted via Blackboard, or as instructed

• Homeworks are due 1 week after the class. E.g., homework for September 22 class is due September 29, 5:00pm Eastern time

• A final project will conclude the course

• Office hours. I'll end the class sessions at 2:20pm, and will be available at https://zoom.us/my/mdozmorov, 2:30-3:30pm unless unexpected meetings