The Gordon Conference on
Statistics in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Pictures

2005 conference	Canoeing		Historical Galleries	Arnie Rosenthal's
	Talent Show			Paige Miller's
Courtesy of Robert Rajko, with PowerPoint help from Frank Westad

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 2004 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 the Journal of the American Statistical Association (JASA), with the applied interests of the former and the technical depth of the latter. New methods of predictive modeling, experimentation, chemometrics, and quality are perennial favorites. Chemical engineering applications of interest to this audience are typically related to process modeling, control and monitoring, and are published in journals such as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Journal, the Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research (I and EC R) Journal and the Journal of Chemometrics. 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".

Program

The waiting's over! No longer do we have to refer obliquely to the "eminent and exciting speakers" for the conference: we can actually tell you who they are. Without further ado:

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 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. Also, note that if the conference is oversubscribed, preference will be given to those who have submitted posters. Send the title and a short abstract of the poster you want to present to the conference vice-chair (David Haaland, dmhaala@sandia.gov).

GRC Posters, 2005

1. "Structure of Alkali Metals," GBOYEGA ADEBAYO, UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE
2. "Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Multivariate data Analysis Approach for Differentiating between 'Good', 'Borderline', and 'Poor' ASTM Lubricant Standards by Ring Zone Sampling," MUIBAT ARUNA, DEMONTFORT UNIVERSITY
3. "Preliminary title: Resolving mass spectrscopy data for genotyping," INGUNN BERGET, NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF LIFE SCIENCES
4. "Optimal input selection for PLS modelling: experimental verification," FABRIZIO BEZZO, UNIVERSITY OF PADOVA
5. "Economic Design of Control Charts for Deteriorating Systems," RICHARD BRAATZ, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
6. "Classification of Natural Waters by N-way Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis and Spectral Characterization with Parallel Factor Analysis by Time-Resolved Multidimensional Fluorescence," KERIN CLOW, TUFTS UNIVERSITY
7. "Classification of Petroleum Oils by Multi-Way Analysis of GC-MS Data Using PARAFAC2," DIAKO EBRAHIMI MOHAMMADI, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
8. "Novel algorithms for baseline estimation," PAUL H.C. EILERS, LEIDEN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTRE
9. "A Partial Least Squares or Projection on Latent Structures (PLS) Analysis for Mapping Consumers Quantitative Liking and Disliking with Consumers Verbatims & Open-Ends Liking and Disliking," AUREA GUPTON, S.C. JOHNSON & SON, INC.
10. "PCA-Assisted Forensic Method Development: Identifying Diesel Fuels with GC-MS," GREGORY HALL, U.S. COAST GUARD ACADEMY
11. "Simultaneous kinetic spectrophotometric determination of Fe(II) and Fe(III) by H-point standard addition method in micellar medium," MOHAMMAD REZA KHOSHAYAND, TEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
12. "Identification of Nonlinear Spectral Phenomena in Liquid Mixtures Using," ERNESTO KRIESTEN, RWTH AACHEN UNIVERSITY
13. "Characterization of shape recognition processes in reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) through molecular modeling and chemometric techniques," KATRICE LIPPA, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY
14. "On The Possibility of Using Different Neural Networks as Class-Modeling Tools," FEDERICO MARINI, UNIV. OF ROME LA SAPIENZA
15. "TBA," AARON OWENS, DUPONT COMPANY, CR&D
16. "Experience in hopping local models across chemical series," DAVID PATTERSON, TRIPOS, INC.
17. "Spectro-textural MIA for location and isolation of randomly distributed defects on artificial stone ," JOSE M. PRATS, TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF VALENCIA
18. "Another look at the self-modeling curve resolution (SMCR)," ROBERT RAJKO, UNIVERSITY OF SZEGED
19. "Multiscale Statistical Process Control of the Paper Surface," MARCO REIS, UNIVERSITY OF COIMBRA
20. "Characterization Enzyme Metabolism Using Chemometric Methods," SARAH RUTAN, VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
21. "Chemical-Specific Surrogation in Support of Predicting Dietary Exposure to Inert Ingredients," KARL SCHNELLE, DOW AGROSCIENCES LLC
22. "Modeling beta-lactoglobulin binding of flavor compounds as a function of their molecular properties," KARL SIEBERT, CORNELL UNIVERSITY
23. "TBA," R WEHRENS, RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN
24. "Cross model validation with examples in multivariate regression," FRANK WESTAD, NORWEGIAN FOOD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
25. "Modeling Scan-Rate Dependent Melting Transitions of Interleukin-1 Receptor (Type II): Elucidation of Meaningful Thermodynamic and Kinetic Parameters of Aggregation from DSC Simulations," JIAN ZHANG, AMGEN, INC.

Applying

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:

1. you apply to register for the conference on-line, and
2. when your application is accepted you send in your registration, along with remittance for the conference fees.

Note that although you can apply now, the acceptance process doesn't begin until March, 2005, so it will be a little while before you get notice of the second step.  The fees in 2005 are as follows.

Apply early and you get a $50 discount!  I think you'll agree that the GRC on Statistics is a great value.