Welcome to Quentin's blog of ideas on ecology, sustainability, and R code! To see old blog posts that Q wrote before 2019, please visit Q's old blog. Important note: Quentin expresses his own views and opinions on this blog. They do not represent the official position of the United States Department of Agriculture.

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2023

AgStats 2023: applied stats and ecotourism in Indiana

6 minute read

Published:

I just got back from AgStats 2023 (Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture and Natural Resources) held at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, my first foray into an applied agricultural stats conference. Read more

2022

Working for the USDA

5 minute read

Published:

In October 2021 I started a new job as an applied statistician for the Agricultural Research Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As promised here are a few musings on my 6-month anniversary of becoming an employee of the federal government. Read more

2019

Mistakes in science

7 minute read

Published:

tl;dr version of this post

  • Almost all published science has mistakes in it.
  • Even in the big data world, it’s important to work with people who have “been there” and know where the data come from.
  • The best mistakes are the ones that are also opportunities (but not all of them are)!
Read more

Why do we waste so much food?

7 minute read

Published:

Food waste is the trademark problem of our culture of abundance. Pouring huge proportions of our precious land, soil, water, and energy resources into producing food, and inflicting damage on the environment in the process, is necessary to maintain human life. Read more