Biodiversity-loving, error bar-needing statistics nerd; Associate Professor @UWBiostat. Methods & software for #microbiome & #biodiversity data. She/her.https://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3mr473axces2aGenuine question for folx who look at bacterial phylogenies: How do you interpret the bootstrap support and posterior probabilities that you get on your tree estimates? Do you take them seriously? Do you think: "Wow, all 99%, that must be a reliable tree!"? 1/20 Jul 2026 21:05 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3mr473axces2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3mp4x46xdtk2sI'm hiring a #postdoc 🥳 and applications are open 🤩 Candidates with interests in EITHER statistical methodology or microbial ecology / microbiome are welcome to apply. The position / projects will be tailored to the candidate 🌟📈🎤 Thank you for sharing widely! apply.interfolio.com/188571 https://apply.interfolio.com/18857125 Jun 2026 17:24 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3mp4x46xdtk2shttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3mogji2kcm22jI'm hiring a #postdoc!! 🥳 Official ad is making its way through HR but If you have interests in statistical methodology OR microbial bioinformatics, please reach out via my UW email. I'll share the description with you when it's available. 🔥😻16 Jun 2026 19:22 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3mogji2kcm22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3mm5v4so2322cradEmu took the cake today. I'm looking at a dataset where the truth is known (a complex spike-in, spiked-in at varying intensities). All taxa should be unchanging in abundance except for the spike-ins... True "positives": 6 / 1505 radEmu score tests identifies 7 CLR + linear model identifies 51718 May 2026 22:06 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm5v4so2322chttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3mhimxezd2k2jAre you doing prediction using microbial community data as input? Please report accuracy as *average percentage error* of the prediction relative to the measurement. I'm not interested in their correlation -- I want to know how many orders magnitude you're off by. Thx! #microbiome #deeplearning20 Mar 2026 13:33 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhimxezd2k2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3ma3rm7mat22hI am delighted to share that the radEmu manuscript was accepted today to Biometrika 🥳 Sending gratitude to our users and reviewers for their enthusiasm and support!! Huge congrats to @davidandacat.bsky.social and Sarah Teichman on all their hard work and brilliance 😻❗ 1/16 Dec 2025 08:55 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3ma3rm7mat22hhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3m7htnqiysk25ALDEx2's p-values are unusually strongly correlated with its effect sizes. Has anyone else noticed this? That... shouldn't happen. Data is actual shotgun coverages, ~8000 "taxa", 57 samples.08 Dec 2025 10:39 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7htnqiysk25https://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3m75el3w5pc27I had this conversation again with someone today, so posting a screenshot of an old t**** for those who missed it the first time around -- or want a refresher! 1/n04 Dec 2025 06:42 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3m75el3w5pc27https://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3m5cww7wp4c2aWith much gratitude to everyone who supported the wonderful #STAMPS summer course at the MBL, I share that STAMPS will not be offered in 2026. 💔😿11 Nov 2025 01:03 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5cww7wp4c2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3m4ydhlxbl22npixi is awesome. That is all. @titus.idyll.org you're all over this, right?06 Nov 2025 19:48 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4ydhlxbl22nhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3m4t7nouemk2qAre you looking for a #tenuretrack or #openrank job in #biostatistics or #statistics? @fredhutch.org is hiring! Seattle is a wonderful place to grow your career; the bio/stat & science scene here is world-class; and you will work w/ amazing UW Biostat students. Apply! apply.interfolio.com/176402 https://apply.interfolio.com/17640204 Nov 2025 18:57 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4t7nouemk2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3m4jebzz5ec2nIn other news, I just had the great pleasure of teaching at #EBAME10 in Brittany 🇫🇷🥐. For this workshop, I made a tutorial showing how to use radEmu with the taxonomic profiling output of #anvio 😍😻 Workflow available for everyone on our blog: https://statdivlab.github.io/blog/articles/ebame10_pt3.html ❤️❤️31 Oct 2025 20:53 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4jebzz5ec2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3m4jdywj77s2nHappy Friday from the StatDivLab! We just made updates to radEmu to make it faster & more stable than ever. Thanks to all our users -- we're excited to keep supporting it. https://github.com/statdivlab/radEmu/ Interpretable and robust microbial differential abundance, woohoo!31 Oct 2025 20:48 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4jdywj77s2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3lunujksk622qWisdom from @titus.idyll.org on the final day of #STAMPS2025: "There's free as in beer, and there's free as in kittens. #Bioinformatics software is free as in kittens. You have to love and care for them or they... well... yeah."23 Jul 2025 20:33 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3lunujksk622qhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3ltf2szsiss2lThe StatDivLab is getting excited for #STAMPS2025 and working on our lectures for 🤩 Stats Day 😻. We ran this think-pair-share activity last year and, wow, the ensuing discussion was *very* engaged 😹😅 Reach out if you'd like to attend! Woods Hole, MA, July 14-24 2025. #microbiome #dataanalysis07 Jul 2025 15:06 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3ltf2szsiss2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3lsq3vja6pc2wWe had a last minute cancellation for STAMPS -- a phenomenal course on microbiome data analysis. Woods Hole, MA, July 14-24 2025. If you or *anyone* you know is interested to attend, please email Titus &/or me... and we'll do what we can!!! Thx for sharing widely! 🤞❤️ [contains quote post or other embedded content]29 Jun 2025 07:00 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3lsq3vja6pc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3lpp4kyhnx22pThe StatDivLab is *fully* reliant on our NIGMS #MIRA R35 to bring you top-quality statistical methods for microbiome research. #NIH They are quietly taking MIRAs away from this year's applicants. It's sneaky and scary. Fight back! Call your reps and tell them to protect science! [contains quote post or other embedded content]21 May 2025 17:24 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpp4kyhnx22phttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3lojlsgfdbk2iPlease, #microbiome and #sequencing data are NOT zero-inflated. Let's stop repeating this nonsense. Zero-inflated compared to what?? Those zeroes carry important information about abundance and sequencing depth, and are not "inflated" in any sense. 1/606 May 2025 19:15 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3lojlsgfdbk2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3lnxfyrguq22aHow are DOGE & Trump planning to permanently decrease the NIH budget, and how do we fight back? -- by a courageous NIH whistleblower. Thank you to this brave person for their clear analysis and constructive suggestions. #NIH #DOGE https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nih-budget-is-on-a-fast-track29 Apr 2025 13:43 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnxfyrguq22ahttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3llwfoiaj222bPlease take 2 minutes to log that the ACA should be protected and expanded, and that trans healthcare is both the right thing to do and a great investment in Americans and America (or however you want to put it!) 💙💓🤍🤎🖤 [contains quote post or other embedded content]03 Apr 2025 17:14 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3llwfoiaj222bhttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3lkdgq6km4s25We've just released radEmu v2.0.0 🥳🦤😻 `remotes::install_github("statdivlab/radEmu")` A huge thanks to users for sharing their requests and questions, and to the maintenance team (Sarah and @davidandacat.bsky.social ) for their time and commitment! Release notes: https://github.com/statdivlab/radEmu/releases14 Mar 2025 10:48 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3lkdgq6km4s25https://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3ljags5wxac2kI wrote a blog post about how to write a great #STAMPS2025 application!🙋❓🧑‍💻 Please share with anyone you know who is applying!!!! 🙏🤩 https://statdivlab.github.io/blog/articles/stamps_2025.html28 Feb 2025 12:45 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljags5wxac2khttps://bsky.app/profile/amydwillis.bsky.social/post/3lip37mutqk27The latest from the StatDivLab -- guidance for your #microbiome data analysis with a focus on the #statistics. Planning, deciding, modeling, justifying, communicating, visualizing... "Papers Need Friends" blog post coming shortly. [contains quote post or other embedded content]21 Feb 2025 15:03 +0000at://did:plc:vdrpi3cx2tacjdfugmvav3ez/app.bsky.feed.post/3lip37mutqk27