Guide

This page includes documentations that serve as a reference for current group members as well as for on-boarding new members.

Software tools

Members of the group are expected to use the software tools listed below to generate research products.

Programming language

The group primarily use Python for day-to-day work such as scientific computing, data manipulation, analysis, and visualization, and developing computational models.

Data visualization

  • The group primarily uses the Python library Vega-Altair for data visualization.
  • In rare cases in which Altair does not serve our needs, we use D3.js for bespoke data visualization.

Scientific writing

  • For day-to-day work the group primarily uses Quarto and Markdown to write reports, slides, etc.
  • For manuscripts (journals, conferences, dissertations, thesis) in which Quarto is not fully capable yet, we use LaTeX.

Version control

The group has an organization account on GitHub for version control https://github.com/fenggroup

Group members are expected to use Git and GitHub for version control and collaboration. Create an account on GitHub if do not have one already, and request group membership.

Slides

Research poster

A research poster should be written in LaTeX using the group’s poster template.

PhD proposal & dissertation

PhD proposal and dissertation should be written in LaTeX using (unofficial) the University of Michigan dissertation template.

Masters’ thesis

Masters’ thesis should be written in LaTeX using (unofficial) the University of Michigan dissertation template.

Diagrams

In most cases use Mermaid for generating diagrams such as flowcharts. Note Mermaid diagrams can be directly created in a Quarto document.

Image editing

Use GIMP which is a free and open-source image editor.

Video editing

Use OpenShot which is a free and open-source video editor.

Group website

The research group website is created with Quarto website. GitHub Actions are set up to render and publish the site on Github Pages. The source code for the website is at https://github.com/fenggroup/fenggroup.github.io

Group members should use the GitHub pull request mechanism to submit changes for review. Fred reviews pull requests and approves/merges the changes.

Training

LaTeX

Version control

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