Welcome to the Davis R Users’ Group (DRUG)! We are a community of R users at UC Davis who support each other in using R for science. Our focus is providing a space for beginning and intermediate users to learn from each other.

• Come to our weekly work sessions: This is the core purpose of DRUG. We have weekly, 2-hour work sessions where people bring their computers to work on their own projects, and ask each other questions as needed. We have no TAs - just mutual support in R, statistics, and related topics. Group members sometimes give short (10-25 minute) presentations on R methods and best practices or to get feedback on their projects.

  Spring quarter work sessions will be held on Thursdays at 1-3 PM in Wickson Hall 2124

• Join the mailing list: The mailing list is an online supplement to our in-person work sessions.

• Use the resources below: We’ve compiled a list of resources to help you get started using R and find answers to your questions.

We’re fortunate have sponsorship from Revolution Analytics for our snacks and speaker prizes.

Resources for R Help

Getting Started | D-RUG Resources |Web Resources | Mailing Lists | Books | Courses | Misc | Stats at UCD

Please Add Additional Resources in the Comments! I will add them to the page.

Some tips on getting started:

• Download R here
• After you install R, I recommend you install RStudio. RStudio is a program that makes R easier to use, and is being widely adopted by both beginning and advanced R users. Importantly, it works across most computer platforms, and has features that make it easy to share your work, collaborate, and do proper version control.
• Google is your first stop for most questions. You’ll most likely reach most of the resources below while searching for your specific question.
• Our regular R work sessions and listserv are great places to ask questions, especially if you are not sure what you are looking for.

D-RUG Resources

Sometimes D-RUG members put together useful resources and tutorials.

• An introduction to ggplot()
• An introduction to mixed models
• Using plot.new() for better combined plots
• Customizing your R setup with .Rprofile
• A guide to tools for collaboration with R
• Using the plyr package for data manipulation
• Using xts and ggplot for time-series data
• Model selection and multi-model inference

Web Resources

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Here are lists of beginner’s resources which others have compiled

• Rseek is a search engine for R resources.
• RStudio’s Getting Help with R Page
• List of Free Online R Tutorials
• Beginner tips from Revolution Analytics
• A free online course from Coursera

Books

• R in a nutshell by Joseph Adler is a good book that’s available in the Davis library and online for Davis users.
• A Primer of Ecology with R by M. Henry H. Stevens is also available online

Other Mailing Lists

These mailing list are very useful not just as a place to ask questions. They are probably where you will find your answers when you search on Google.

• The R-Help mailing list and it’s many subgroups, including an Ecology-specific group
• Stack Overflow is a popular Q&A site for computer programming that a lot of discussions about R.
• The Davis Scientific and Statistical Computing List is mostly used by advanced users and includes some of the developers of R.

R Courses

There are a few courses at UC Davis that use R.

• Duncan Temple Lang (one of the developers of R) teaches Statistical Computing (STA141), a course mostly about R but also more general topics in computer science for statistics. He also organizes an informal seminar series on statistical computing. STA 242 is a more advanced version of the course. He also will teach STA 135 - Multivariate Data Analysis this year, which is not about R but uses R for data exploration, data mining, and regression.
• Richard McElreath’s Statistical Rethinking (ANT298) is a course in Bayesian statistical methods which doesn’t focus on R but teaches enough for the applications in the course.
• Marissa Baskett and Sebastian Schreiber teach Computational methods in population biology (ECL298) in alternate years. This course also isn’t explicitly about R but teaches enough basics so as to be able to use it for the applications in the course. They also created this handy cheat sheet
• Design, Analysis, and Interpretation of Experiments (PLS 205) has in the past provided an optional extra section to learn techniques in R in addition to SAS
• Carole Hom teaches Introduction to Dynamic Models in Modern Biology (BIS 132) where R is used for differential and difference equation modeling.
• There are occasional paid workshops offered on campus
• At least one section of STA100 uses R
• Robert Hijmans teaches Quantitative Geography (GEO200CN). It is a survey course about spatial data analysis and modeling using R, including subjects such as point pattern analysis, kriging, inference, cellular automata and Markov chains. It has lectures, disussions, and a intensive lab.
• Jim Fadel teaches ABG250: Mathematical Modeling in Biological Systems, which uses R and teaches enough for the applications in class
• Anna Steel is teaching ECL298: R for Dummies: Basics of data manipulation in R Winter Quarter 2013.

Miscellaneous

• R-bloggers
• The One R Tip A Day Twitter Account
• #rstats is a common hashtag for discussing R on Twitter

General Statistics Resources at UC Davis

• Here is a page compiling stats and modeling courses that Ecology students can take at UC Davis
• The UC Davis Department of Statistics has a consulting service that is free for disseration-related statistical advice. You get a 1-hour meeting with a statistician to discuss your research and they will send you a write-up of their recommendations.