Using Definitive Screening Designs to Screen Factors and Optimize Results | Fireside Chat

Topic Overview: This session explores Definitive Screening Designs (DSDs), a modern approach for identifying critical factors in experiments with many potential variables. Introduced by Brad Jones and Christopher J. Nachtsheim, DSDs offer important advantages over traditional two-level factorial and fractional-factorial screening designs. The presentation explains how DSDs work, highlights their strengths, and demonstrates how they can be easily and effectively analyzed. A case study shows how a DSD can be used to screen key factors and optimize the response in a single experiment, demonstrating how these designs can make experimentation more efficient and informative. Thought Leader: Christopher J. Nachtsheim is the Frank A. Donaldson Chair of Operations Management at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. His research and teaching focus on statistics and business analytics, experimental design, regression and predictive analytics, and quality management. He is the co-discoverer of Definitive Screening Designs with Brad Jones and the inventor of the coordinate exchange algorithm for constructing exact optimal experimental designs. Dr. Nachtsheim is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and has published more than 70 articles in the statistics literature.