I was super excited for this meeting since it’s sorta in my backyard (I live in the Philly suburbs). But also because I got to be part of the organizing committee.

I walked into ISN nervous, unsure how I’d fit among such an extraordinary roster. I walked out feeling energized, inspired, and grateful to have contributed.

Two days of rich, cross-disciplinary science reminded me that understanding food, flavor, and behavior requires more than treating people like machines. We need to embrace the quirks, the biases, and yes, even the cookie stomachs, that make us human.

At this year’s AChemS meeting, I gave a talk on AI in sensory research. One of the demonstrations I gave was intentionally provocative: I asked ChatGPT to simulate a consumer research study using MaxDiff and Implicit Association Testing (IAT) to explore the perception of "freshness" in home fragrance products.

Let me be clear: the goal was not to fake data but to stress-test a study design. By simulating how people might respond, I wanted to explore gaps, assumptions, and how well our methods differentiated between products. Consider it a pilot study by proxy.