IMPORTANT: The SIU IBM app on the cloud has been shut off to save money. If our workshop participants would like to use it, we’d happily make it available for your use. Just e-mail Jim Garvey. (Updated 8_6_26)
Thanks to everyone for signing up for our workshop scheduled for Tuesday, August 4th, 2026. Place: IDNR Headquarters, Time: 10 AM – 4 PM
Materials: Yourself!
Computers: Laptops loaded with the program will be provided. User manual and tutorials will be provided in a packet.
Walking through the IBM:
User Manual: The latest version of the USER MANUAL is available. This is very detailed and intended to provide in depth information about the program.
Tutorial: A very detailed TUTORIAL is here to help you load the IBM package on your computer in the RStudio environment. An explanation is below. The tutorial includes a walk-through of the simulation and analysis environment, which is going to be covered in the workshop as well.
EXAMPLE DATA: For the workshop, we will be using data available here. These should be loaded onto your local machine for access by one of the multiple versions of the program.
Program Access:
THE EASY WAY to access and use the IBM: GOOGLE CLOUD (Recommended as prep for workshop)
Simply go to https://siufisheriesibm.org/, which is an application that SIU Center for Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences is temporarily hosting. This is for easy-access demonstration purposes only. The current program CANNOT save your data on your machine. Once you’ve run closed the application, all your progress will be lost. That said, it gives you a fast, no-mess way to run through the workshop tutorial.
THE BETTER WAY: IBM APP via RStudio Running on Your Computer
Although for the workshop, no knowledge of R or RStudio is necessary, being able to run the IBM packages on a local machine require some familiarity with the workings of both. Running the model locally on your computer will allow you to either use your computer’s computing cores or for you to open a Google Cloud account (advance user only) where you can run simulations on Google’s servers. The most recent versions of R and RStudio need to be loaded on your computer. The program is downloaded as a zip file into a directory where you want to run the simulations:
DOWNLOAD VERSION CRAIBM.0.3.3.ZIP
A quick version of the setup can be accessed through this R Markdown file:
Install_Quick_R_Code_Windows.Rmd
The LAUNCH APPLICATION and START BATCH FILES that execute the IBM application can be found here: LAUNCH PAD.
The tutorial that is available (see above) has detailed instructions for how you prepare RStudio to run the IBM package. As those of us who use RStudio know, packages are necessary to run specific “scripts”. This IBM uses a lot of resources to run simulations. The tutorial guides you through the process of prepping RStudio to run the IBM with click of a button. All you need to do is load the R script into the script window of RStudio.
Please direct any questions you have to our team:
Peng Chen, program development/science, peng.chen@siu.edu
Koaw Zaczek, education/outreach/science, koaw.zaczek@siu.edu
Jim Garvey, program management/science, jgarvey@siu.edu
Trophic Ecology 