The Gordon Conference on
Statistics in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Sad news - Dennis Keller

Overview

The Gordon Research Conference on Statistics in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering is one of about 150 conferences sponsored by the Gordon Research Foundation. The general GRC Web site provides some good overview information, including

• a description of the GRCs in general
• topics and venues for this year's and next year's conferences

In a nutshell, the conferences bring together researchers and practitioners in an intimate setting with the aim of fostering interdisciplinary exchange on the frontiers of science. They are typically held for a week in the summer at some small college in New England, with relatively few formal talks and ample opportunities for discussion and interaction, both formal and informal. Conferees stay in college accomodations (dormitories) and eat together in college dining facilities.

The GRC on Statistics in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering focusses on new research directions in applied statistics and in the analysis of chemical phenomena. It has met annually for 50 years, drawing statisticians, chemometricians, chemists and chemical engineers from industry, government and universities around the world. Statistical interests typically lie somewhere between Technometrics and JASA, with the applied interests of the former and the technical depth of the latter. New methods of predictive modelling, experimentation, chemometrics, and quality are perennial favorites. Chemical interests range from analytical, organic, and environmental chemistry to chemical process monitoring/control. Typically, readers of the Journal of Chemometrics, Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, and Applied Spectroscopy are a part of the audience.

There are just two talks per day, one in the morning and one in the evening, attended by all conferees. The main speaker gets over an hour both to bring the diverse audience up to speed on the general problem/method being presented as well as to discuss really cutting-edge material. Then a formal discussant gets about 20 minutes to highlight (or disagree with) significant points made by the main speaker. Finally, over an hour is devoted to moderated discussion from the floor---questions, comments, complaints, sermons addressed by conferees to the speaker, discussant, and other conferees. In my experience, this is the most fruitful part of the enterprise for speaker and listeners alike, often wrapping up the whole session with a sort of "take-home" message; it's a feature of GRC presentations that I really miss at other conferences.

Afternoons are free, allowing for one-on-one professional discussions as well as fun and touring in the scenic areas where the conferences are held. There is always a bar of some sort, where the conferees assemble before dinner and after the last talk. The poster session is situated near the bar, encouraging discussion. The conference combines an atmosphere of intense scientific interaction with an amiable intimacy. For example, speaker introductions are informal, and a traditional feature of the conference is a Thursday Night "Talent Show".

2001 Program

Most speakers names are linked to web sites where you can find supporting material.   Also, Randy Tobias snapped pictures right and left at this year's conference. They're linked into the appropriate points in the week's program below, or you can just click on one of these links:

I'm very excited about this line-up, and I hope you will be, too: there's much here for statisticians, chemometricians, analytical chemists, and chemical engineers alike, and lots of opportunities for fruitful interaction.

Posters

In addition to the presentations, this conference also offers a poster session. Keep in mind this opportunity for you, your colleagues, and your students to discuss new research with other people who work in the multidisciplinary arena of statistics in chemistry and chemical engineering. Further, it is an excellent way to involve young researchers in this prestigious conference. The posters are located near the (snack) bar where conferees gather in the afternoons and evenings, so they get a lot of "casual" traffic during the week, in addition to the ordinarily popular official poster sessions. This makes it an excellent opportunity for both you to bounce your ideas off folks with a wide range of expertise. Send the title and a short abstract of the poster you want to present to the conference vice-chair (Mary Beth Seasholtz, MSEASHOLTZ@dow.com).

GRC Posters, 2001

1. "Mixture modelling of magnetic resonance data," R. Wehrens, A. Simonetti, and L.M.C. Buydens
2. "Inadequacies of classification models in chemistry and drug design," Hamid MEKKAOUI
3. "Advancement of Chemometric Tools in Russian Radiochemistry", N.N. Khramov, S.A. Bartenev, G.S. Markov, V.N. Romanovski, V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute, St. Peterburg, Russia
4. "How Many Peaks? The Bayesian Solution.," L. K. DeNoyer* & J. G. Dodd
5. "Causal Map for Process Monitoring", L. Chiang, R. Braatz
6. "Support Vector Machines: A Versatile and Powerful Approach to Data Analysis," A.I. Belousov, S.A. Verzakov and J. von Frese
7. "Multivariate Statistical Process Control for Continuous Monitoring of an Early Warning Fire Detection System," Renee D. JiJi and Susan Rose-Pehrsson
8. "Finding a Needle in a Haystack -- Detecting Credit Card Fraud Using Neural Networks," Aaron J. Owens
9. "Spectrophotometric Determination of Acidity Constants of 4-(2-Pyridylazo) Resorcinol in Binary Methanol + Water Mixtures," Department of Chemistry, J. Ghasemi; M. Kubista and A. Niazi ,Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
10. "Product Design through the Inversion Latent Variable Models," Koji Muteki, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Visiting Scholar in McMaster University)
11. "Simple Interval Calculation - A Method For Linear Modeling," Alexey L. Pomerantsev, Polycert, Institute of Chemical Physics Russian Academy of Science.
12. "Optimal sorting of raw materials based on the predicted end product quality," Ingunn Berget and Tormod Næs
13. "Fractionation of Two-level Designs for Multi-Step Processes (Preserving the Split-Plot Structure)," Murat Kulahci, Rameriez.
14. "Variable selection in PLS: An application of the Bootstrap". Kjell Johnson, Ph.D.,Pfizer Global Research and Development, Ann Arbor Laboratories
15. "Examination of A Novel Second Order Instrument Utilizing a Pre-Separator Followed by a Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor Array with Curve Resolution and Generalized Rank Annihilation Method", Neal Gallagher
16. "Theory and applications of jackknifing and bootstrapping in bilinear modeling", Frank Westad
17. "Randomization, A Random Run Order and Running Experiments", Jim Lucas
18. "A Comparison of Orthogonal Signal Correction Algorithms and Characteristics", Olof Svensson, Theodora Kourti and John F. MacGregor
19. "A Support Vector Machine Methodology for QSAR," Kristin P. Bennett, Curt M. Breneman, Mark J. Embrechts, Jinbo Bi,Ayhan Demiriz, Larry Lockwood Jr., Michinari Momma, and Nagamani Sukumar.
20. "Combining Information in the Physical Sciences and Engineering"; James H. Yen
21. "PITA: An industrial tool developed as part of a framework for gathering, representation and analysis of data from chemical processes and products", Gautham Parthasarathy, Gary Matis, Andrew Neil
22. "Multiblock models for explorative data mining in food technology", Frans W.J. van den Berg
23. "Learning a maximum from your experiments", Fred Hamprecht
24. "Quantitative Structure Function Relationship (QSAR) Modeling of Protein & Peptide Functional Properties", Karl J. Siebert
25. "Performance assessment and improvement of control charts for statistical batch process monitoring", Henk-Jan Ramaker, Eric van Sprang, Johan Westhuis, Steve Gurden, Hans Boelens and Age Smilde
26. "On-line spectroscopic monitoring of batch processes", Eric van Sprang, Henk-Jan Ramaker, Steve Gurden, Johan, Westerhuis and Age Smilde
27. "Use of model monitoring techniques for the economic design of control charts", María Teresa Malagón and Isabel Llatas
28. "Raman Calibration Transfer using Full-Ratio PCR and Piecewise Gaussian Blurring", Jeremy Shaver
29. "Metamodeling Approach to Optimization of Steady-State Flowsheet Simulators", Kurt Palmer

Apply On-Line

Although the meeting is open to all interested parties, the number of conference attendees is limited in order to promote maximum interaction. Signing up for a Gordon Conference involves a two-stage process: you apply, and when your application is accepted you send in your registration, along with remittance for the conference fees. You can now apply to register for the conference on-line. The fees for our conference are

I think you'll agree that the GRC on Statistics is a great value.

Click here to see the list of applications to attend the conference that have been accepted.

Past Conferences

The conference has been in business for over half a century.  Click on the year to see the program and click on the chair's name to see a picture of the conferees.