AGU 2025 Tripoli Workshop Announcement
Workshop: Modern Statistical Methods and Cyberinfrastructure for Mass Spectrometry
AGU 2025 Fall Meeting : Workshop registration, date, and place to be announced.
Conveners: Noah McLean (Kansas University), Jim Bowring (College of Charleston), Scott Burdick (Wayne State University)
Workshop Description:
The relative abundance of isotopes – elements with similar chemical properties but different masses – provides critical clues for understanding the history, structure, and evolution of the Earth. Precise measurements of isotope ratios can be made with mass spectrometers (MS). Measurements made with two types, the thermal ionization mass spectrometer (TIMS) and multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICPMS), underpin the study of geochronology and radiogenic isotopic systems. New MS technology, like linear ion counters, high-resistance amplifiers, and large-capacity vacuum pumping systems have dramatically improved the precision of isotopic analyses and opened them to new isotope systems. Improved statistical data reduction and visualization are key in translating these hardware improvements to improved scientific interpretation of isotopic data. In this workshop, we aim to transmit state-of-the art knowledge on methods and software used to process raw mass spectrometer data.
Our half-day workshop at the AGU 2025 Fall Meeting will center on the application of modern statistical techniques to improve isotope geochemistry. We focus on using the Tripoli software package for MS data reduction. Tripoli imports raw MS data to facilitate the visualization of temporal trends and scatter during measurement, statistically rigorous filtering of data, and the calculation of statistical parameters. We provide hands-on instruction for downloading, installing, and applying the package to example and user-supplied datasets. Students and postdoctoral researchers are especially encouraged to participate in the workshop, as well as lab managers and early career scientists. Limited funding is available to defray the cost of participation.
By the end of the workshop, the participants will: Understand modern statistical methods for mass spectrometer data reduction and their benefits. Explore the application of Bayesian methods to raw time series data collected by mass spectrometers. Know how to access, utilize, and contribute to new cyberinfrastructure for mass spectrometry.
Workshop Highlights:
Introductory presentations on improved statistical methods and treatment of MS time series data as a Bayesian inference problem. Demonstration of new MS data reduction software, Tripoli. Hands-on assistance with downloading and running Tripoli. Application help for running Tripoli on user-supplied data or example datasets. Tutorial on commenting and contributing to community-driven cyberinfrastructure.