Rate My Professor Marcel Maeder

Emeritus Professor Marcel Maeder holds a position in the School of Science within the Discipline of Chemistry at the University of Newcastle. Born in 1951 in Basel, Switzerland, he obtained his Diploma in Chemistry from the University of Basel in 1975, a PhD in 1980 under the supervision of Professor Silvio Fallab (summa cum laude) on the kinetics of interactions of Co(II) complexes with molecular oxygen, and Habilitation in 1988 from the same university in chemometrics and evolving factor analysis. Following teaching roles at the University of Basel and a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Australian National University's Research School of Chemistry, he was appointed to the University of Newcastle in 1988, advancing to Emeritus Professor.

Maeder's research specializations encompass chemometrics, chemical kinetics, and equilibrium investigations, with pioneering contributions including the development of Evolving Factor Analysis (EFA), recognized as a fundamental algorithm for preliminary data analysis, and the first publication in a chemistry journal on Alternating Least Squares (ALS). He created hard-modelling software such as SPECFIT and the ReactLab suite (Equilibrium, Kinetics, KinSim) through Jplus Consulting, which he co-founded. His academic interests extend to coordination chemistry, spectrophotometry, potentiometry, transition metal ions in aqueous solution, and CO2 capture processes. Maeder has authored over 160 peer-reviewed publications, 8 book chapters, and the monograph Practical Data Analysis in Chemistry (2007, with Y.-M. Neuhold), accumulating more than 12,900 citations and an h-index around 50. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Chemometrics, acts as a referee for journals including Inorganic Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry, and has delivered plenary and keynote lectures at international conferences such as the Gordon Research Conference on Statistics in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (2005). Additionally, he has supervised approximately 20 PhD projects, with many graduates securing postdoctoral positions at institutions like the Universities of Geneva, Lausanne, Basel, ETH Zurich, Ottawa, New York, Lund, and Sydney. In 2014, he received the Eastern Analytical Symposium (EAS) Award for Outstanding Achievements in Chemometrics.