NEWS

Stata 15 Released!

Stata 15 is now available on Linstat and from the Campus Software Library, and will be on Winstat and Software Center soon. With Stata 15 you can:

  • Write do files that create PDF files or Word documents directly (recall that Stata 14 gave you the ability to create Excel files, but PDF and Word files turn out to be even easier to make)
  • Write documents using Markdown that include Stata code, and Stata will turn them into completed documents containing the results
  • Turn many regressions into Bayesian regressions just by putting the new bayes: prefix in front of them
  • Do more kinds of Structural Equation Modeling, including Latent Class Analysis

For more, see http://www.stata.com/new-in-stata/.

Fall Training

SSCC's Fall training schedule has been posted, including "boot camp" sessions right before the semester begins.

New this year are Introduction to Stata and Introduction to R classes that are shorter than our usual "For Researchers" classes. These classes will get you started but don't cover some of the topics needed for real-world research. New graduate students who need to use statistical software for class work but won't be doing research for several years (or who don't anticipate doing much quantitative research) may find them a good fit. No need to take both though: Stata for Researchers and R for Researchers cover everything that is covered in their corresponding Introductions.

If you are in touch with incoming graduate students, please make sure they know about SSCC's training opportunities. We encourage all new graduate students to learn computing skills early so you can take advantage of them throughout your career.

SSCC Staff News

Zach Heise, SSCC's preeminent fixer of broken computers used by our members, will be taking a one-year leave of absence to accompany his partner who has taken a temporary position in Panama. In Zach's absence, Oliver Giramma will take on most of his duties. We're also pleased to introduce Mitchell Karam, who will take on most of Oliver's current duties for the next year, including staffing the Help Desk. Mitchell comes to us from Portland, where he's worked in both computing support and audio-visual support.

Campus Cybersecurity Risk Assessment

The UW-Madison Office of Cybersecurity has hired an outside firm to conduct an assessment of computer security across campus. This primarily involves running a scanning tool that automatically identifies vulnerabilities on individual computers. SSCC will participate in this scan, but you do not need to do anything. Precautions are in place to ensure that privacy will be preserved and the firm will not have access to restricted or sensitive data. For more information, see the Cybersecurity Risk Assessment FAQs.

New Help Desk Survey

You may have noticed that the email survey you receive when your SSCC Help Desk ticket is closed has been replaced by a new web based survey that is quicker and easier to fill out. We've also streamlined the questions. Rest assured this is not because we want to hear less from you! We always welcome your feedback and suggestions, but the new form will let you focus on what you want to say. Feel free to contact SSCC leadership by email as well.