Dr. Goovaerts can capitalize on his engineering degree, his computational skills and training in (geo)statistics to provide technically-sound and practical solutions to most projects dealing with the analysis of multivariate data distributed across space and time (see portfolio). Recent projects include:
- mapping soil dioxin contamination around the Dow Chemical Incinerator in Midland (MI),
- estimating soil arsenic contamination caused by ASARCO smelter in Tacoma (WA),
- mapping the spatial distribution of 43 different soil pollutants (organic and inorganic) over the entire Walloon region in Belgium,
- modeling arsenic in private groundwater wells in 11 counties in southeastern Michigan and exploring its impact on the incidence of prostate and bladder cancer,
- estimating the spatial extent and degree of oiling along Louisiana shorelines resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,
- modeling the distribution of PCBs and heavy metals in sediments of multiple water bodies in the Great Lake region,
- analyzing the impact of air pollution on low birth weight and pre-term delivery in Detroit airshed,
- mapping the risk of late-stage diagnosis for prostate cancer over the entire State of Florida,
- modeling the spatial and temporal distribution of lead in drinking water and blood in Flint, MI.
Dr. Goovaerts’ areas of expertise cover (non-exhaustive list):
- Multivariate statistics (e.g. principal component analysis, discriminant analysis, canonical analysis, MANOVA, multi-dimensional scaling),
- Regression (linear, non-linear, Poisson, logistic, spatial, geographically-weighted),
- tests of hypothesis (t-test, ANOVA),
- Cluster detection (Moran’s I, SatSCan),
- Temporal Trend Modeling
- Geostatistics (variogram analysis, (Co)kriging, probability mapping, stochastic simulation, space-time interpolation)