Biography

I’m a Postdoctoral Associate and Moore Data Fellow in the Weecology Lab at the University of Florida.

The goal of my research is to advance our understanding of how complex systems change over time, and the ways in which the driving processes manifest as changes. Although we have many hypotheses & models for ecosystem changes, as well as increasingly numerous and accessible data, bridging theory and observations remains challenging and elusive. I approach this topic through the development of methods for analyzing time series data and the application of these methods in specific systems and macro-scale analyses.

Some typical research questions are:

• What components of ecosystems are changing and how fast?
• How do different processes interact to produce patterns across temporal, spatial, and taxonomic scales?
• Which ecological properties are predictable, how well can we predict them, and what factors influence predictability?
• How can we best build causal models of complex systems, e.g. to guide forecasting and management?

I also believe that academia and higher education (in the US, but probably elsewhere) needs drastic cultural change to be more welcoming, inclusive, and accessible. Existing practices and power dynamics that support the status quo reinforce or amplify societal biases and inequities, causing harm to both the practice of science, and more importantly to the people who engage in science in any capacity. In addition to embracing open and reproducible research practices, I support changing institutional policies, improving student support and training, and continual work to understand and deconstruct biases and prejudices.

Computational Training

I have taught or assisted with The Carpentries workshops at the University of Minnesota, the University of Florida, and the University of California San Diego.

In addition to teaching, I was a board member for the UF Carpentries Club from 2017-2019, which organizes computational workshops and related events at the University of Florida. I have also led the organization of two Research Bazaar events at UF that include: talks, panel discussions, tutorials, and more: ResBaz2018 ResBaz2019.

As part of the Open Data Science at SIO, I also led the following informal seminars:

• Introduction to Data Visualization and Data Wrangling in R
• Reproducible Research in R for Ocean Biosciences: Open-science Training Seminar

Pedagogy

I have formal training in pedagogy via “Teaching + Learning at the College Level”, a course on evidence-based teaching practices taught by UCSD’s Teaching + Learning Commons. (The course is now called “Introduction to College Teaching”.)

In addition, I am a certified instructor for The Carpentries.

Experience

I have been a teaching assistant for the following courses:

• PSYC 138 (Sound and Music Perception) at UCSD

• PSYC 102 (Introduction to Sensory and Perception) at UCSD
  this course has been replaced with “Sensory Neuroscience”

• PSYC 60 (Introduction to Statistics) at UCSD

• CS 1 (Introduction to Computer Programming) at Caltech

Training

I have received training in leading Ally Skills workshops, via a “Train-the-trainers” workshop, led by Dr. Sheila Addison of Frame Shift Consulting at the University of Florida.

In addition, I have attended several workshops including ally skills and bystander intervention.

Activities

As part of the informal leadership of the Gainesville Ally Skills Network, we have been educating others on the need for individuals to use their priviledge to help dismantle systems of oppression that limit inclusion and accessibility in (primarily) academic spaces.

This includes:

• 3-hour Ally Skils Workshops
• 45-minute talks introducing concepts to broad audiences
• monthly meetings to discuss scenarios, e.g. from the Dear Ally blog

• @Hao_and_Y on Twitter.
• hao.ye@weecology.org
• @hao_and_y on Keybase.
• 110 Newins-Ziegler Hall, PO Box 110430, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, USA