Women's Package Workshop

Angela Li, the R Spatial Advocate at the Center for Spatial Data Science, led a women’s package development workshop as part of the R Forwards initiative on Saturday, Feb. 23. More than 30 women attended the all-day event at the CSDS space at the University of Chicago.

Li and Stephanie Kirmer, both members of R-Ladies Chicago, taught participants how to set up an R package from scratch. The workshop also gave an introduction to GitHub and version control software, and participants left with a working R package and resources to learn more.

CSDS provided space and logistical support for the workshop, which offered accommodations such as a nursing room. The R Consortium provided funding for travel grants that brought in female participants from California, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

The workshop was sponsored by R Forwards, an R Foundation task force devoted to widening the participation of women and other under-represented groups in the R community.

(Originally Published on 02-23-2019)