Upcoming FreeSurfer courses

The next virtual FreeSurfer course is scheduled for September 12-13th, 2022. The payment deadline is September 6, 2022. Note: As long as there are empty spots in the course, we will accept late registrations. If you register after the payment deadline has passed, payment is due immediately.

Registration is not yet open. This page will be updated once registration has opened.

This is a two day course that offers a basic introduction to FreeSurfer. Review the tentative schedule below before registering.

General Information

Additional details about the Virtual Course can be found below. Information about international courses can be found on their respective websites.

If you have a specific question about the FreeSurfer courses that was not answered by our FAQ or would like to host a course in your area, you can email one of the course organizers, Allison Stevens or Liam Sennott (freesurferlab@gmail.com).

Course Mailing List

SUBSCRIBE:
If you are interested in being notified about future course offerings, sign up for our mailing list (here).

UNSUBSCRIBE:
To unsubscribe from the course mailing list please click here.

Boston Course Details

Click on any of the topics below for more information:
Overview
Payment
FAQ
Topics Covered During the Course
Lecturers and Staff
Accommodations
Directions
Parking
Map of the Course Location

Overview

The FreeSurfer Development Team hosts a four-day, rigorous course for beginner and experienced users of FreeSurfer.

Day 1 caters to beginners and will cover:

Day 2 will cover:

Day 3 will cover:

Day 4 will cover:

The four days consist of talks/tutorials that run all day, roughly from 9am-5pm. There will be extra time to work on tutorials or data before 9am and after 5pm. Attendees are expected to attend all talks and tutorials aside from the ones scheduled as "optional". Attendees may opt out of either the fMRI or Diffusion lectures if it is not applicable to them. Laptops are provided with FreeSurfer and the tutorial data already installed. Attendees will work in pairs (sharing a laptop). The schedule of talks and links to tutorials can be found here. Please check back for updates.

Additional topics and more detail on each topic is provided below.

Payment

Cost

The fee for the course is $400. A reduced rate of $275 is available to undergraduate and graduate students. MDs, PhDs, RAs and Post-docs do not qualify for the student rate!

Deadlines & Accepted Payment Types

Payment Coordinator/Contact: Stacey Ladieu (sladieu at martinos dot org)

Payment deadline: September 6, 2022

Accepted Payment types: credit card, cash, or institutional check (see sections below for details on each)

As long as there are empty spots in the course, we will accept late registrations (regardless of the payment deadline). If you register after the payment deadline has passed, payment is due immediately. Payment and all questions about payment should sent to Stacey.

Credit Cards

Please use the website below to make a payment via credit card.

Choose the box with the payment fee that applies to you: 2022 Virtual FreeSurfer Course OR 2022 Virtual FreeSurfer Course STUDENT FEE

Select the correct quantity of registrations and 'Add to cart'. Select 'View Cart' and then 'Proceed to Checkout'. Enter your billing address and click continue, then enter your credit card details. Please contact Stacey (sladieu@mgh.harvard.edu) and CC the course organizer's email (freesurferlab@gmail.com) if there are any issues.

Click here to pay by Credit Card

Checks

For those sending an institutional check, we understand these can take some time to produce. Please have your financial institution contact our payment coordinator, Stacey Ladieu, to confirm a check is being issued prior to the payment deadline.

Make checks payable to: Massachusetts General Hospital

Mail checks to this address:
Stacey Ladieu
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
149 Thirteenth Street - Room 2301
Charlestown, MA 02129

Please be sure the name of the person taking the course is listed on the check.

Cash

There are two options for paying by cash:

  1. Make an appointment with Allison Stevens (astevens at martinos dot org) to deliver cash in person
  2. Contact Stacey (sladieu at martinos dot org) to send cash via Western Union or Moneygram. The transfer must be made out to Stacey Ladieu.

Missed Deadlines & Cancellations

If payment has not been received by the payment deadline or in the case of an institutional check, your institution has not contacted Stacey Ladieu with details of their payment arrangement by that date, your spot will be opened to the waiting list. There is no need to contact us to check whether your payment has gone through - your spot is safe unless we contact you.

Course fees are refundable up to the payment deadline. A $300 fee will be deducted, should you request a refund up to 2 weeks prior to the program.

FAQ's

  1. How many individuals are accepted into the Virtual course?

    • 20 people

  2. Do postdocs qualify for the student rate?

    • No, sorry.

  3. Is there a discount for MGH or Martinos Center employees?

    • Sorry, no.

  4. I cannot pay by check or credit card. Do I have any other options?

    • If you are local, you may bring a cash payment to Allison Stevens (astevens at nmr dot mgh dot harvard dot edu) before the deadline. If you are not local, you can pay via Western Union and Moneygram if it is addressed to Stacey Ladieu. Please contact Stacey (sladieu at nmr dot mgh dot harvard dot edu) first for details.

  5. Payment is required with registration but my institution will take several weeks to cut a check. Does this mean I cannot attend?

    • You may still attend the course. Have the person at your institution that is responsible for arranging your payment contact Stacey Ladieu (sladieu at nmr dot mgh dot harvard dot edu) to verify that a request for payment has been submitted and is being processed.

  6. The course is full. Can you register me for the next one?

    • You can sign up for our course mailing list and you will be notified when registration for the next course opens (that list is here). You can also register for the currently full course to be put on the waiting list for it. This does not however automatically get you a spot in the next course.

  7. Can I get a receipt for the course?

    • Contact the payment coordinator, Stacey (sladieu at nmr dot mgh dot harvard dot edu) to arrange getting a receipt.

  8. How do I know if my payment went through?

    • If it hasn't we will contact you.

  9. Do I get any credits for taking this course?

    • Nope, but we will give you a certificate to prove you took it.

  10. Do you serve any food at the course?

    • There will be a continental breakfast each morning & coffee and some snacks supplied in the afternoon. There is also a cafeteria nearby where the course is held and two cafes 2-3 blocks from the building.

  11. I have some data I would like to get your opinion on. Can I show it to you?

    • Sure! But please know that if you show us during a tutorial, questions from students about that tutorial will have to take priority over personal data questions. If you email Allison or Emma prior to the course, they can try to arrange some help.

  12. I need some help installing FreeSurfer on my laptop - I can't seem to get it to work. Can you help with that?

    • Sure! Please see the response to the question above.

  13. Can I bring my own laptop to work on instead of sharing with someone else?

    • If any issues arise during the tutorial sessions which are unique to your laptop, we will not be able to troubleshoot those issues for you (it takes staff away from answering general tutorial questions). We strongly discourage using your own laptop instead of the ones we provide. If you insist on working on your laptop, please thoroughly test your installation ahead of time - guidelines for this can be found on the TestingFreeSurfer wiki. It might also be a good idea to try to run all the commands in the tutorials (here).

  14. How far is the airport from the course location?

    • About 20 minutes by taxi and 1 hour by public transportation (there are several transfers). The taxi will cost $20-$25. Public transportation will cost under $3.

  15. Would it work if I scheduled a flight for the evening of the 3rd or 4th day of the class?

    • Certainly. You can bring your luggage to the room where the course is held and leave straight from there. Traffic can be bad after 3pm, so you may need 45 minutes to an hour to get to the airport. To attend all the talks on the 3rd day, your flight will need to be 8pm or later.

Course Topics

Below is the list of topics. The course format is composed of lectures followed by hands-on tutorials so that you can gain experience interacting with data processed by FreeSurfer. A basic understanding of Linux is necessary to run and work with FreeSurfer.

Lecturers and Staff