Summer and longitudinal social network analysis

Christoph Stadtfeld and Per Block of ETH Zurich kept a lively pace for four full days interchanging theoretical explorations of SIENA's mathematical foundation and social network dynamics on the one hand, and practical exercises in analyzing real-world networks on the other. 

ANR Lab's summer schools tend to be fun, but this particular one was something else. Devoted to arguably the best tool for studying the dynamics of social networks, it was challenging, enlightening, exciting, and incredibly useful.  
Christoph Stadtfeld and Per Block of ETH Zurich kept a lively pace for four full days interchanging theoretical explorations of SIENA's mathematical foundation and social network dynamics on the one hand, and practical exercises in analyzing real-world networks on the other. The lecturers presented the material in a very engaging manner, eliciting constant questions from the excited audience comprised largely from people outside of the lab, which is an indication of the growing educational importance of the lab. 
The material started with the basics of SIENA and then built on, reaching the advanced topics of meta-analysis and ordered networks. Quite a few students started to apply SIENA to their own data, and frequent breaks allowed them to have some one-on-one time with the lecturers (and, of course, Stanley Wasserman, the scientific supervisor of the lab). Perhaps it was the German background of the lecturers that helped them run the school as a well-oiled machine (and not just any old Lada, but a brand new Mercedes, of course), keeping a tight schedule, but also being mindful of the necessity of rests. 
All in all, this was an excellent summer school which, we hope, is going to produce several good papers.