Archive for Aussois
off to [ML@]Aussois
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, Running, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags adversarial examples, Aussois, CNRS, conformal prediction, Dent Parrachée, Fall school, Gaussian processes, generative modelling, ML, O'Bayes03, optimization, Paul Langevin, privacy, Savoie, SNCF, train strike, transport, Université Paris Dauphine, Vanoise on November 14, 2025 by xi'an
Éric turns 60
Posted in Books, Mountains, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Aussois, birthday, Dent Parrachée, ERC Synergy Grant, Eric Moulines, Festschrift, French Alps, generative models, IHP, Institut Henri Poincaré, Maurienne, Paris, Vanoise, variational inference on July 14, 2023 by xi'an |
Conférence en l’honneur d’Eric Moulines13-14 sept. 2023 IHP Paris (France)
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There will be a conference / Festschrift held for the 60th birthday of Eric Moulines [longtime friend, coauthor, ERC Synergy co-PI, whom I almost killed when missing a catch on Dent Parrachée!] at Institut Henri Poincaré, Paris, on 13 and 14 September 2023. Registration is free, but compulsory.
These two days will celebrate the variety of the research topics covered by Eric Moulines over thirty years and the broad and thorough impact he had on many different scientific communities. In particular, through more than 100 papers published in highly selective journals, he has made essential contributions in as many fields as statistical signal processing, time series analysis, inference in partially observed models, non-linear filtering, computational statistics, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, stochastic optimization methods, as well as hot topics related to artificial intelligence like generative models, variational inference or Bayesian machine learning.
[summer Astrostat school] room with a view [jatp]
Posted in Mountains, pictures, R, Running, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags astrostatistics, Aussois, Banff, Bayesian statistics, France, Grenoble, Les Diablerets, R, RStudio, summer school, Vercors on October 9, 2017 by xi'an
I just arrived in Autrans, on the Plateau du Vercors overlooking Grenoble and the view is fabulistic! Trees have started to turn red and yellow, the weather is very mild, and my duties are restricted to teaching ABC to a group of enthusiastic astronomers and cosmologists..! Second advanced course on ABC in the mountains this year, hard to beat (except by a third course). The surroundings are so serene and peaceful that I even conceded to install RStudio for my course! Instead of sticking to my favourite vim editor and line commands.
O’Bayes17, next December in Austin
Posted in pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Aussois, Austin, ISBA, ISBA section, longhorn, O'Bayes, O'Bayes03, O'Bayes17, Shanghai, Texas, The University of Texas at Austin, West Lafayette on April 5, 2017 by xi'an
The next edition of the OBayes meetings is taking place this December in Austin, Texas! On the campus of the University of Texas (UT), organised by Carlos Carvalho, Peter Mueller, James Scott, and Tom Shively. On December 10-13. Following a tradition of more than 20 years—I went to most meetings although I missed the very first conference in West Lafayette, Indiana, and only stayed 27 hours in Shanghai!, plus adopted the O’Bayes logo for the Aussois meeting, even though I meant the number of the year rather than for the edition!!—, this meeting brings together researchers interested in objective Bayes theory, methodology, and applications, and related topics, to provide opportunities for young researchers, and to establish new collaborations and partnerships. (The meeting is the biennial meeting of the Objective Bayes section of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis, of which I happen to be the current president.)
The list of speakers and discussants this year is quite impressive and far reaching, and everyone is more than welcome to present a poster at the workshop. The first (Sun)day will see a series of tutorials, given by members of the scientific committee (myself included), followed by three days of invited talks with discussions, plus a poster session on Monday night. And possibly a desert excursion on Thursday! It should be a great meeting and I most warmly invite all ‘Og’s readers to join us in Texas!
Forte di Bard
Posted in Kids, Mountains, pictures, Travel, University life, Wines with tags Aussois, Bard, Elliot Erwitt, Forte di Bard, Italian Alps, Italian unification, Italy, Marc Chagall, MCMSki, Napoléon Bonaparte, O'Bayes, Savoie, Vale d'Aosta on August 4, 2016 by xi'an
After our aborted attempt at Monte Rosa, Abele Blanc treated us to a quick visit to Forte di Bard, a 19th Century military fortress in the Valley of Aosta [a first version of which was razed by Napoleon’s troops in 1800] on top the medieval village of Bard. Ironically, the current fortress never saw action as Napoleon’s siege was the last invasion of the kingdom of Savoy by French troops.
The buildings are impressive, so seamlessly connected to the rock spur that supports them that they appear to have grown out of it. They 
reminded me of Vauban’s fortresses, with the feeling that they were already outdated when they got built. (On the French Savoy side, there is a series of fortresses that similarly faced no battle as they were designed to keep the French out, becoming overnight useless when this part of Savoy was ceded to France in exchange for its support of the unification of Italy. For instance, there is such a fort in Aussois, which now houses an hostel, a gastronomical restaurant [we enjoyed at O’Bayes 03], and a via ferrata…)
The fortress 
has been recently and beautifully renovated with the help of the Italian State and of the European Union. It houses conferences and art exhibits. Like those on Marc Chagall and Elliot Erwitt that we briefly saw, missing the massive museum of the Alps… A few dozen kilometers from Torino, it would be a perfect location for a small workshop, albeit not large enough for a future MCMski.
