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| Armonía (Harmony) by Remedios Varo (1956) |
A peer-reviewed paper I co-authored with collaborators at the University of Michigan is published in the current edition of the Journal of Statistics and Data Science in Education (JSDSE). The paper outlines a pilot educational module at the University of Michigan that integrates machine olfaction into an undergraduate deep learning course. By combining chemistry, machine learning, and sensory evaluation, the curriculum challenges students to work with subjective sensory data, demonstrating the feasibility of teaching multimodal data science.
The inclusion of sensory evaluation in a deep learning course is novel as far as papers accepted by JSDSE go. The good news is that our pedagogy-driven endeavor doesn't end with our paper. Dr. Ambuj Tewari received a second New Initiatives/New Instructions (NINI) grant from the University of Michigan that will allow us to take our findings to the next level (which is why I'll be busy teaching this summer).
Curious? Read the paper and sniff out the facts in the sensory evaluation portion. Readers of Glass Petal Smoke who work in the flavor and fragrance industry will appreciate it. Perfume fans may also find it interesting, and don't have to worry about decoding a research paper if they Clouseau It! It's all about learning in small incremental steps. The more you do it, the better you get at it.
The inclusion of sensory evaluation in a deep learning course is novel as far as the history of papers accepted by Journal of Statistics and Data Science in Education (JSDSE) goes. The good news is that smell continues to be a part of nose-forward pedagogy at the University of Michigan.
Citation: Han, Y., Kydd, M. K., Ward, J., & Tewari, A. (2026). Teaching Machine Olfaction in an Undergraduate Deep Learning Course: A Pilot Integrating Chemistry, Machine Learning, and Sensory Evaluation. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, 34(3), 372–380. https://doi.org/10.1080/26939169.2026.2665103
Notes & Curiosities
Teaching 100+ students in a large auditorium how to evaluate smells using fragrance blotters was and remains one of the most satisfying teaching experiences I've had at the University of Michigan to date. It proved what I've always known by experience; that sensory evaluation is a powerful multisensory teaching and learning tool when combined with other disciplines. The sense of smell is memory's sense; it doesn't get more pedagogical than that.
I have many students to thank with regard to the evolution of Smell & Tell lectures, especially those that were part of summer boot camps held by MSTEM Academies at the university. Thanks also go out to students who invited me to give a TEDxUofM talk in 2015 (a talk that resonated with a wider audience after the COVID-19 pandemic) and students who shared their anosmia and congenital anosmia stories with me after the event.
BTW: The reason why Dr. Tewari and I ended up working together is the result of his watching my TEDxUofM talk online; the rest, as they say, is history.
I would be remiss if I didn't thank the Ann Arbor District Library for saying yes to monthly "Smell & Tell" events in 2012, and every year afterward. There isn't a day that I don't take the creative freedom that the library continues to give me for granted. Honestly, writing this post makes me feel like I'm dreaming with my eyes open.
