Thank you, Technical Services Committees

To celebrate Volunteer Week, AOCS would like to thank the Technical Services Committees who help professionals in the world of fats, oils, lipids, proteins and surfactants forward scientific progress using best practices, from generating new methods to conducting collaborative studies to certifying labs. We’ll outline each committee’s contributions to AOCS below.

Technical Leadership Committee 

The Technical Leadership Committee is comprised of active industry leaders that provide an informed perspective on current commercial priorities and directions. This perspective then clarifies for AOCS which projects to focus on. Guided by their knowledge and experience, AOCS is better equipped to develop new methods and collaborative studies, as needed.

Chair: Lars Reimann
Members: Chris Dayton, Len Sidisky, Linsen Liu, Scott Bloomer, Mark Collison, Anders Thomsen, Susan Seegers and Keith Persons

Examination Board

The Examination Board reviews the NOPA Certified Lab program and results. They are also responsible for making the final decisions on the certification of soybean labs based on the blind testing results. They also determine the validity of any submitted appeals after the results are sent to the Laboratory Proficiency Program. Finally, the board reviews any Approved Chemist program issues, when necessary. 

Chair: Chris Dayton
Members: Frank Hahn, Michael Hawkins, Len Sidisky and Anders Thomsen

Uniform Methods Committee

The Uniform Methods Committee works with relevant subcommittees and coordinates with the AOCS Technical Department on updating existing methods and revising current methods. They are the final arbiter that confirms that a new method or revision conforms to the standards required for inclusion in the Official Methods and Recommended Practices of the AOCS. 

Chair: Chris Dayton
Methods Editor: Mark Collison
Members: Lars Reimann, Len Sidisky, Steve Hansen, Magdi Mossoba, Florence Lacoste and Troy Haines

Subcommittees

The Uniform Methods Committee subcommittees are the first point in method development, according to subject. They review proposed new methods and confirm the results of collaborative studies before they are sent to the Uniform Methods Committee for final approval as an AOCS method. Committee members are generally active participants and experts in the analytical specializations each subcommittee focuses upon.

Current working subcommittee members include:

The Chromatography Subcommittee: Sneh Bhandari (Co-Chair), Steve Hansen (Co-Chair), Len Sidisky, Magdi Mossoba, Mark Collison, Susan Seegers, Larry Tucker, Keith Persons, Kai Liu, Amy Grano and Daniel Smith

The Flavor Quality and Stability Subcommittee: Susan Seegers (Chair), Chris Dayton, Len Sidisky, Steve Hansen, Karel Hrncirik, Keith Persons, Ross Caulfield, Carolin Edinger and Chris Lirette

The Rapid and Non-Destructive Methods Subcommittee: Kangming Ma (Chair), Chris Dayton, Magdi Mossoba, Mark Collison, Chris Lirette and Xiaorong Wu

The Seed and Meal Subcommittee: Veronique Barthet (Chair), Kai Liu, Vinay Patel and Chris Lirette

Laboratory Proficiency Program Committee

This committee is mainly responsible for reviewing the Laboratory Proficiency Program (LPP) to determine testing and series that may be needed. At the start of each year, the active chair, currently Susan Seegers, reviews the protocols and report tickets. The chair also makes suggestions for changes and updates as needed. These suggestions are passed along to the series chairs for review. The chair also reviews LPP appeals if the series chair cannot come to a determination or if there is no active chair. 

Chair: Susan Seegers
Members: Lars Reimann, Chris Dayton and Mark Collison

Subcommittee of the Laboratory Proficiency Program

This committee includes LPP Chairs who review the programs at the beginning of each program year. These chairs serve as experts in the variety of specialties listed below. As a result of their review, they suggest changes before the program chair provides the final review. They also review appeals and answer any questions that might arise about the LPP series. 

Chair: Susan Seegers 
Members: Anthony Bimbo, Sandy Holloway, Gary Ideus, Robert Poullard, Mark Collison, Robert Kiefer, Eddie Baldwin, Keith Persons, Kai Liu, Dana Walkenhorst, Nuzul Bin Amri, Craig Humphrey, Sean Ekiss, Jocelyn Alfieri, Anthony Bimbo, Nuzul Bin Ibrahim and Chris Dayton

We are grateful for all the hard work of these committees whose efforts promote and advance quality and consistency among the AOCS scientific community.