diff --git a/all-spark-notebook/Dockerfile b/all-spark-notebook/Dockerfile
index c948ecbb..a7ca6db1 100644
--- a/all-spark-notebook/Dockerfile
+++ b/all-spark-notebook/Dockerfile
@@ -79,11 +79,24 @@ RUN $CONDA_DIR/envs/python2/bin/python \
 # R packages
 RUN conda config --add channels r
 RUN conda install --yes \
-    'r-base=3.1*' \
-    'r-irkernel=0.4*' \
+    'r-base=3.2*' \
     'r-ggplot2=1.0*' \
     'r-rcurl=1.95*' && conda clean -yt
 
+# Issue #17: R downgrades ipython to 3.2.1
+# Workaround until packaging reqs update
+RUN conda install --yes -f 'r-irkernel=0.4*' && conda clean -yt
+RUN conda install --yes \
+    'r-base64enc' \
+    'r-irdisplay' \
+    'r-repr' \
+    'r-rzmq' \
+    'r-evaluate' \
+    'r-jsonlite' \
+    'r-magrittr' \
+    'r-stringi' \
+    'r-uuid' && conda clean -yt
+
 # Scala Spark kernel spec
 RUN mkdir -p $HOME/.ipython/kernels/scala
 COPY kernel.json $HOME/.ipython/kernels/scala/
diff --git a/r-notebook/Dockerfile b/r-notebook/Dockerfile
index 37e1c720..8775af77 100644
--- a/r-notebook/Dockerfile
+++ b/r-notebook/Dockerfile
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ USER jovyan
 RUN conda config --add channels r
 RUN conda install --yes \
     'r-base=3.2*' \
-    'r-irkernel=0.4*' \
     'r-plyr=1.8*' \
     'r-devtools=1.8*' \
     'r-dplyr=0.4*' \
@@ -34,5 +33,15 @@ RUN conda install --yes \
     'r-rcurl=1.95*' \
     'r-randomforest=4.6*' && conda clean -yt
 
+# Issue #17: R downgrades ipython to 3.2.1
+# Workaround until packaging reqs update
+RUN conda install --yes -f 'r-irkernel=0.4*' && conda clean -yt
+RUN conda install --yes \
+    'r-base64enc' \
+    'r-irdisplay' \
+    'r-repr' \
+    'r-rzmq' \
+    'r-uuid' && conda clean -yt
+
 # Switch back to root so that supervisord runs under that user
 USER root
\ No newline at end of file