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Week 8 — Symposium upcoming

August 10 – August 12, 2026 · Chapters 8.1 – 8.5 · Lab 8 · Mentor Session 8 · Symposium Wednesday

Run it, break it on purpose, write it up to publication standard, and present.

Three days from a registered PAP to a defended poster. By 5 pm Wednesday August 12, every team has presented at the GMU ASSIP Symposium (in-person poster session + virtual breakouts for remote interns) and submitted a JSSR abstract.

Daily schedule

Block What
9:00 – 12:00 Read Ch 8.1 — Execution & Specification Curve (confirmatory run; multiverse; deviations log). Work nb8.1 (144-spec multiverse).
1:00 – 4:00 Read Ch 8.2 — Robustness & Inference Stress-Tests (alt SEs, placebos, sensitivity, BH-FDR, Oster δ). Work nb8.2.
4:00 – 5:00 Office hours
Block What
9:00 – 12:00 Read Ch 8.3 — Writing the Empirical Paper (structure, one-sentence contribution, causal-language discipline). Read Ch 8.4 — Peer Review & Revision.
1:00 – 4:00 Lab 8 — final manuscript build (LaTeX → PDF, etable to LaTeX); replication-packet checklist; bit-identical reruns.
2:00 – 3:30 Mentor Session 8 — "Defending a result" (slotted inside the afternoon).
4:00 – 5:00 Poster dress rehearsal — each team gives their 5-minute pitch to Prof. Gao + sub-leaders.
Block What Where
9:00 – 10:00 Final poster touch-ups, slide check, replication-packet upload. Repo
10:00 – 12:00 GMU ASSIP Research Symposium — morning sessions. Mason Square + Zoom breakouts
1:00 – 4:00 Poster session — Mason faculty, mentors, families, College of Science leadership, Mason News press. In-person + virtual breakouts
4:00 – 5:00 Closing remarks · JSSR abstract submission cutoff. Symposium hall
5:00 pm PROGRAM ENDS —

What to read

Notebooks: notebooks/week-08/. Mentor reading: Mentor 8 — "Defending a result".

What to submit

When What
Tue Aug 11, 5:00 pm Specification curve, robustness battery, final results tables (committed).
Wed Aug 12, 9:00 am Final poster PDF in projects/<team>/poster.pdf.
Wed Aug 12, 1:00 pm Poster live at the symposium (in-person and virtual breakout).
Wed Aug 12, 4:00 pm JSSR abstract submitted via Mason Publishing portal.
Wed Aug 12, 5:00 pm Replication packet (final commit on main, signed README, environment.yml, manifest of bit-identical seeds).
Within 30 days Optional full paper — for teams that want to convert their JSSR abstract into a full journal-style submission.

What you walk away with

A research poster in your portfolio. An abstract published in JSSR with your name on it. Three GMU College of Science credits. A reproducible GitHub repo that any reader can clone and rerun. And — most importantly — the experience of having defended a real empirical claim in front of a real audience.

Symposium logistics

  • Date / time: Wednesday, August 12, 2026 · poster session 1:00 – 4:00 pm ET.
  • Format: In-person poster session at GMU Mason Square + virtual Zoom breakouts for remote interns. Our cohort is remote, so you will present in a virtual breakout room — but your printed poster will be hung at Mason Square by program staff and the in-person audience will rotate through.
  • Audience: Mason faculty, ASSIP mentors, students' families, College of Science leadership, Mason News press.
  • Dress code: Business casual on camera. Have a backup wired headset.
  • Poster spec: 36" × 48" landscape; PDF; built from the template in Projects → Poster template.
  • Backup plan: If your home internet drops, dial in by phone to the breakout room number circulated Monday Aug 10 and continue presenting from your phone while a sub-leader screen-shares the poster.

After the program

  • Within one week: short post-program survey + LOR request form (Prof. Gao writes letters for students he has supervised through symposium).
  • Within 30 days: optional full-paper submission window for teams that want to convert their JSSR abstract into a full submission.
  • Within the academic year: the symposium poster session is on your résumé, your GitHub repo is public, and the JSSR issue carrying your abstract publishes in Q1 2027.