The 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 goal is
to bring together modelers from many disciplines to discuss parameter
estimation and uncertainty analysis with a focus on the PEST suite of
programs, and seek input from modelers on modeling needs to guide future
development. The conference will commence with a message from John Doherty,
the developer of PEST, and will follow with morning and afternoon sessions,
each commencing with a key-note address given by a noted modeler. A poster
session will be held one evening. Oral and poster submissions will be
summarized in extended abstracts and/or full papers, 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 and provide suggestions for future development directions. Keynote
speakers include John Doherty (developer of PEST), Ghislain DeMarsily
(developer of the Pilot Point technique), Jim Rumbaugh (ESI, developer of
Groundwater Vistas), Jasper Vrugt (Los Alamos National Laboratory), and
Randy Hunt (US Geological Survey).

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.

Conference details including information on abstract submissions, early-bird
discounted registration, accommodations, and the pre- and post-conference
courses can be found at:

  <http://www.sspa.com/ThePESTConference> www.sspa.com/ThePESTConference

Best wishes -

Matt Tonkin, SSP&A
Email:  <mailto:pest@...> pest@...