First PEST Conference!

On behalf of John Doherty, Matt Tonkin, and myself, please consider joining us at the first-ever PEST conference!

This first-ever PEST Conference will be held in The Stained Glass Hall of the Bolger Center, Potomac, Maryland ( http://bolgercenter.dolce.com/<http://bolgercenter.dolce.com/> ) November 2nd through 4th, 2009. The primary goal of the PEST Conference is to bring together modelers from a wide variety of disciplines who either have experience in, or would like to learn more about, the use of inverse modeling techniques - i.e., parameter estimation and uncertainty analysis - with a particular focus on the PEST suite of programs (www.sspa.com/pest ).

The objective of bringing together modelers from a variety of modeling disciplines is to exchange ideas, discuss applications of the PEST suite of programs, share lessons learned, discuss new and planned developments, and seek guidance from modelers on inverse modeling needs to guide future code development. It is also hoped that this forum will provide an opportunity for modelers to meet and discuss novel approaches that they have taken to solving problems that they have encountered.

The PEST Conference will commence with a message from John Doherty, the developer of the PEST programs. John will provide some history of the development of PEST, discuss wide ranging applications of PEST, outline planned future developments, and doubtless wax lyrical on a great many other topics! The conference will follow with morning and afternoon sessions, each
commencing with a key-note address given by a noted environmental modeler, followed by submitted oral presentations. A poster session will also be held one evening. Oral and poster presentations will be summarized in extended abstracts and/or full papers that will be published in electronic proceedings distributed on thumb drives. The conference will wrap up with a
question-and-answer session during which attendees will be able to ask questions of the organizers and of John Doherty, in particular, and provide suggestions for future development directions.

A one-day Introductory PEST course will be held immediately prior to the conference, and a two-day advanced PEST course will be held immediately following the PEST Conference, with instruction from John Doherty, Jim Rumbaugh, and Matt Tonkin.

Further information about the PEST Conference - including the list of keynote speakers and information on registration, accommodations, and travel, will be posted soon at www.sspa.com/ThePESTConference.

We hope to see you in November 2009!