Tsalmantza, Hennawi, and I (well, really Tsalmantza) got running a system to simultaneously figure out quasar redshifts and build up model spectra. That is, the system infers a model for the spectra, uses that model to determine the redshifts, and then updates the model. Iterate to convergence. In some sense it is supposed to be a model for how astronomers figure out redshifts! At lunch-time Kyle Cranmer (NYU) talked about marginalizing likelihoods at the LHC (and the improvement that gives in measurements) and before that Wu started her PhD defense process, to be completed tomorrow.
Something similar to this should be able, in principle, to identify strong metal absorption in SDSS.
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