STATSTRO 2026

About the Workshop

STATSTRO (formerly Stellar Stats) is an annual interdisciplinary workshop that brings together statisticians, astronomers, members of the broader scientific community, and particularly early-career researchers working on interdisciplinary research in astrostatistics and astroinformatics.

Building on the Stellar Stats workshops (2021–2023) and previous STATSTRO editions (2024–2025), the workshop fosters connections between the Department of Statistical Sciences (DoSS), the Data Sciences Institute (DSI), and the astronomy communities of DADDAA, Dunlap, and CITA at the University of Toronto. This year's edition expands the workshop into an international 2-day gathering, with a focus on communities around the Great Lakes area in the US and across Canada — though it is open to participants from anywhere in the world, both in person and remotely.

This year's theme, Sampling, Simulation, and Scientific Discovery, explores how modern sampling methods, computational simulations, and statistical inference are driving new discoveries across the sciences. The extended format allows for longer tutorials, more in-depth discussions, stronger recruitment of statistics and machine learning researchers, and deeper engagement from both local and international participants.

Each of the four thematic sessions features a keynote overview talk, a hands-on coding tutorial (Jupyter/Colab), and a contributed science presentation. Each day also brings a round of lightning talks from early-career researchers — each paired with a poster — followed by a dedicated poster session over the extended midday break. There is no registration fee, and catered meals and networking activities provide ample opportunities for cross-disciplinary connections.

Thematic Sessions

Deep Learning Day 1
Deep learning for scientific applications, including neural networks as emulators and surrogates, interpolation, extrapolation, and generalizability.
Uncertainty Quantification Day 1
Strategies for quantifying uncertainty across frequentist and Bayesian frameworks, including conformal prediction methods.
Sampling Techniques Day 2
Modern MCMC methods for scientific applications, with a focus on scaling to high dimensions and large datasets.
Simulation-Based Inference Day 2
Inference with intractable likelihoods using both traditional methods and neural approaches such as normalizing flows and diffusion models.

Speakers

Deep Learning

Ricardo Baptista

University of Toronto

Keynote Speaker

To Be Announced

Tutorial Leader

Ali SaraerToosi

University of Toronto

Contributed Speaker

Uncertainty Quantification

Mikael Kuusela

Carnegie Mellon University

Keynote Speaker

Biprateep Dey

University of Toronto

Tutorial Leader

Michael Evans

University of Toronto

Contributed Speaker

Sampling Techniques

Radu Craiu

University of Toronto

Keynote Speaker

Yichen Ji

University of Toronto

Tutorial Leader

Peter Behroozi

University of Arizona

Contributed Speaker

Simulation-Based Inference

Justine Zeghal

Université de Montréal

Keynote Speaker

Connor Stone

University of Toronto

Tutorial Leader

Lawrence Faria

Queen's University

Contributed Speaker

Schedule

All times in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT, UTC-4)

9:00 – 9:30

Registration & Setup

Check-in, coffee, and poster setup

9:30 – 9:40

Opening Remarks

9:40 – 10:40

Title to be announced

Keynote Talk

Ricardo Baptista — University of Toronto

Deep Learning

Keynote overview talk — 60 min

10:40 – 10:55

Break

10:55 – 11:40

Title to be announced

Tutorial

Speaker TBD

Deep Learning

Hands-on coding tutorial — 45 min (Jupyter/Colab)

11:40 – 12:10

Title to be announced

Contributed Talk

Ali SaraerToosi — University of Toronto

Deep Learning

Contributed science talk — 30 min

12:10 – 12:25

Lightning Talks

Lightning

10 × 1-minute lightning talks (5 min changeover) — a one-minute preview of every poster on display today

12:25 – 13:30

Lunch & Networking

Group photo, then catered lunch. Posters are up — take an extended break and start browsing before the dedicated session.

13:30 – 14:30

Poster Session

Poster

Dedicated poster viewing — meet the presenters behind today's lightning talks

14:30 – 15:30

Title to be announced

Keynote Talk

Mikael Kuusela — Carnegie Mellon University

Uncertainty Quantification

Keynote overview talk — 60 min

15:30 – 15:45

Break

15:45 – 16:30

Title to be announced

Tutorial

Biprateep Dey — University of Toronto

Uncertainty Quantification

Hands-on coding tutorial — 45 min (Jupyter/Colab)

16:30 – 17:00

Title to be announced

Contributed Talk

Michael Evans — University of Toronto

Uncertainty Quantification

Contributed science talk — 30 min

9:00 – 9:30

Registration & Setup

Check-in, coffee, and poster setup

9:30 – 10:30

Title to be announced

Keynote Talk

Radu Craiu — University of Toronto

Sampling Techniques

Keynote overview talk — 60 min

10:30 – 10:45

Break

10:45 – 11:30

Title to be announced

Tutorial

Yichen Ji — University of Toronto

Sampling Techniques

Hands-on coding tutorial — 45 min (Jupyter/Colab)

11:30 – 12:00

Title to be announced

Contributed Talk

Peter Behroozi — University of Arizona

Sampling Techniques

Contributed science talk — 30 min

12:00 – 12:15

Lightning Talks

Lightning

10 × 1-minute lightning talks (5 min changeover) — a one-minute preview of every poster on display today

12:15 – 13:20

Lunch & Networking

Catered lunch. Posters are up — take an extended break and start browsing before the dedicated session.

13:20 – 14:20

Poster Session

Poster

Dedicated poster viewing — meet the presenters behind today's lightning talks

14:20 – 15:20

Title to be announced

Keynote Talk

Justine Zeghal — Université de Montréal

Simulation-Based Inference

Keynote overview talk — 60 min

15:20 – 15:35

Break

15:35 – 16:20

Title to be announced

Tutorial

Connor Stone — University of Toronto

Simulation-Based Inference

Hands-on coding tutorial — 45 min (Jupyter/Colab)

16:20 – 16:50

Title to be announced

Contributed Talk

Lawrence Faria — Queen's University

Simulation-Based Inference

Contributed science talk — 30 min

16:50 – 17:00

Closing Remarks

Wrap-up & next steps

Venue & Travel

Location

Department of Statistical Sciences

700 University Avenue, 9th–10th floors

Toronto, ON

WiFi

Visitors can connect via eduroam. UofT guest WiFi credentials will be provided at registration for those without eduroam access.

Tutorials

Please bring a laptop for the hands-on coding sessions (Jupyter/Colab). Setup instructions will be shared prior to the workshop.

Accessibility

The venue is wheelchair accessible. Please contact the organizers in advance if you have any accessibility requirements.

Getting There

700 University Avenue is located in downtown Toronto, easily accessible by TTC subway (Queen's Park station on Line 1) or streetcar (College St or Dundas St).

Registration

In-person — Closed In-person registration has reached capacity and is now closed.

Online — Open Online-only registration is still open — join us remotely via Zoom for both days.

There is no registration fee. While in-person spots are full, online-only registration remains open — register below and we'll send you the Zoom link to attend both days virtually.

Register for Online Attendance

All participants are expected to follow our Code of Conduct.

In-Person & Remote Attendance

STATSTRO is a hybrid workshop. In-person registration has reached capacity and is now closed, but you can still take part remotely via Zoom — online-only registration remains open and free. Registered participants receive the Zoom link by email.

Meals & Refreshments

Lunches on both days are catered and designed for networking. Snacks and beverages are provided during all breaks.

Conference Dinner (Day 1)

A conference dinner will be held on Thursday evening for in-person participants. Space is limited — sign-up details are shared with registered attendees.

Contributed Talks

We welcome submissions for 30-minute contributed science talks aligned with one of the four thematic sessions. Submission details will be available when registration opens.

Tutorials

We welcome proposals to lead a 45-minute hands-on coding tutorial (Jupyter/Colab) on a topic relevant to one of the four thematic sessions. Submission details will be available when registration opens.

Lightning Talks

Each day features a round of rapid-fire 1-minute lightning talks from early-career researchers — one for each poster — held just before lunch as a preview of the day's posters. Submission details are provided to registered participants.

Poster Session

Every lightning talk has an accompanying poster, with a dedicated viewing session right after lunch each day (and posters up through the midday break). We encourage all participants to present. Format details are provided to registered participants.