Introduction

	EFI and the ESA Statistical Ecology Section are hosting a monthly Statistical Methods Virtual Seminar Series. Calls are typically on the first Monday of each month at noon US Eastern time. Speakers will spend 20 minutes presenting a project where they used a statistical method or tool followed by 40 minutes where they will share R code, describe pitfalls or stumbling blocks, and answer questions. Topics, details, and registration links are HERE. The fourth seminar is January 24 at noon US EST. Tong Qiu will present on Generalized Joint Attribute Modeling (GJAM). Register HERE. Recordings and R resources from previous webinars in this series are available on the webinar webpage.
	The EFI Education Working Group created a new 2-page pdf living document that provides an overview of what ecological forecasting entails, the types of careers ecological forecasters have, and examples of courses undergraduate and graduate students can take to learn concepts and statistical and computational tools in preparation to learn ecological forecasting. This resource was developed for undergraduate and graduate students and to be used by academic advisors to share with their students.
	Seminar Series: Taking Your R Shiny Apps to the Next Level The Ecological Forecasting Initiative & ESA Statistical Ecology section hosted a 4 part seminar series in August and September to demonstrate a variety of technical aspects for R Shiny web app development. Example R code that incorporates these features in a Shiny app will be included. Recordings and resources from the seminars are available HERE. The recording and resources from the September 14 seminar will be added by Monday, September 20.
	The EFI-NEON Research Coordination Network is an NSF-funded grant to create a community of practice that builds capacity for ecological forecasting by leveraging NEON data products. The first round of the NEON Ecological Forecast Challenge begins in 2021. The Challenge revolves around five theme areas that span aquatic and terrestrial systems, and population, community, and ecosystem processes across a broad range of ecoregions that uses data collected by NEON.
	About: Mission Statement, Shared Values & Principles, Member Profiles and Forecasting Projects
	Working Groups Organized Around Six Cross-Cutting Themes: Theory, Decision Science, Tools and Methods, Cyberinfrastructure, Education and Knowledge Transfer
	Resources: Publications, Educational and Multimedia Resources, Videos
	Workshops: Upcoming and Past Opportunities To Learn and Collaborate
	Stay Connected: Our Listserv shares high-level announcements, our Blog highlights forecasting activities going on, you can follow us on Twitter @ecoforecast, or you can request to join our community of forecasters on Slack (send request to eco4cast.initiative@gmail.com)