Chemistry book awarded international recognition

The volumen is one of two chosen in the field of Chemistry. Its autor is a recognized faculty and researcher from Rosario´s public university and the Argentine research council.

By Claudio Pairoba*

Alejandro Olivieri is a member of the National University of Rosario faculty and the National Research Council in Science and Technology from Argentina. Author of "Introduction to multivariate calibration. A practicalapproach", a book on Chemometrics published in 2018 by Springer Nature Germany, Olivieri´s text has been chosen as a “2019 Outstanding Academic Title” by Choice magazine among thousands of titles published worldwide.

Choice magazine, a monthly publication reviewing books to assist librarians, brings together the titles published during the previous year (around 7000). After a first selection based on the 10% of that number, a final list determines the volumes receiving the distinction. This achievement is highly regarded by universities and publishers.

Professor Olivieri comments on the award.

Who is this book intended for?

This volumen is written for advanced students in Chemistry and related fields. It deals with multivariate calibration, within the Chemiometry field. This discipline applies mathematical and statistical models to extract information from chemical data.

An example of its application?

One of the best current examples is found in the food industry where variables such as fat, protein, starch, moisture, fiber and ash content can be determined applying this tool.

Just by pointing a near-infrared light beam to the sample a great amount of information can be recovered after applying multivariate calibration methods in real time. And on top of that, there is no need to apply traditional methods which are time and energy-consuming besides using toxic reagents.

Why is this award important?

Every year thousands of books are published all over the world by the most renowned publishers. Choice magazine (a publication by a group of American libraries) reviews close to 7000 books yearly. Next, they choose around 10% of them (this time the number was 520) and create a list with the most influential in various disciplines. Only two books were chosen in the Chemistry field, and I wrote one of them.

The distinction awarded to the five books published by Springer Nature. One of them was written by Olivieri.

How long did it take to write it?

A year. It is basically a translation of a series of notes and books I had already written in Spanish for courses I teach in Chemometrics. The idea to write a book in English came after I met a representative from Springer at a scientific meeting in Brazil. After discussing it, we decided to go ahead with the project.

The award exalts innovation and excellence as crucial when presenting this subject for grad students. How important is clarity when writing such specific topics? Especially when dealing with college students.

Clarity is always key, either when writing for well-trained researchers or undergrad/ grad students. When it comes to students, clarity is even more important. Particularly, to simplify more complicated concepts involving mathematics or statistics resorting to simple examples and words to describe ideas and concepts rather than complex equations.

The publisher´s webpage highlights that one of the benefits of Olivieri´s book is that it “introduces difficult concepts in a qualitative way with minimal use of mathematics”, not a minor detail when dealing with such a complex subject. The elegance of simplicity in writing can surely contribute to make a science book stand out.

*Member of the School of Strategic Communication of Rosario and the Argentine Network of Science Journalism. Registered with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Science) and  Nature.

References

1. Olivieri: el mundo de la quimiometría está arrancando en la Argentina.

2. Outstanding Academic Title for UM academic

3. McCallum’s Book Among Most Outstanding Academic Titles of 2019

4. Choice Awards Three Brill Publications as “Outstanding Academic Titles” in 2019

5. MIT Press Books Take Home CHOICE Awards