The Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award, established in 1957, is given annually to a researcher who has demonstrated outstanding achievements in the field of spectroscopy.

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Vicki H. Grassian is a Distinguished Professor and Distinguished Chair in Physical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at UC San Diego. Grassian’s group focuses on the chemistry and impacts of environmental interfaces as it relates to atmospheric aerosols, engineered and geochemical nanomaterials and indoor surfaces. She has developed and utilized many different spectroscopic techniques to probe the chemistry and impacts of environmental interfaces throughout her career. She has received many awards for her research including both the American Chemical Society National Awards in Surface Chemistry and Creative Advances in Environmental Science and Technology. She also received the Royal Society of Chemistry John Jeyes Award and the William H. Nichols Medal Award for her contributions to the chemistry of environmental interfaces. She is an elected member of several societies including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Physical Society, the American Vacuum Society and the American Institute of Chemists.

The Pittcon Achievement Award is presented annually at Pittcon to recognize individuals for outstanding achievements in the fields of analytical chemistry and/or applied spectroscopy within 10 years after completion of their Ph.D. work. This award is supported and administered by the Society of Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh.

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John R. Yates is the Ernest W. Hahn Professor in the Departments of Molecular Medicine & Neurobiology. His research interests include development of methods for tandem mass spectrometry analysis of protein mixtures, mass spectrometry bioinformatics using, & biological studies involving proteomics. He is the lead inventor of the SEQUEST software for correlating tandem mass spectrometry data to sequences in the database & developer of the shotgun proteomics technique for the analysis of protein mixtures. His laboratory has developed proteomic techniques to analyze protein complexes, posttranslational modifications, organelles & quantitative analysis of protein expression for the study of biology. He has received the ASMS Biemann Medal, HUPO Achievement Award, Christian Anfinsen Award (Protein Society), Analytical Chemistry award (ACS), Ralph N. Adams Award, Thomson Medal (IMSF), John B. Fenn Award (ASMS), HUPO Discovery Award. He is currently the EIC at the Journal of Proteome Research.

The Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award was established to recognize a scientist’s significant contributions to the field of Analytical Chemistry including; introducing of a significant technique, theory or instrument or providing exceptional training or a fertile environment for progress in Analytical Chemistry.

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Michael Marty, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry at The University of Arizona. Dr. Marty earned his B.A. in chemistry and mathematics at St. Olaf College in 2010, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He completed his Ph.D. in chemistry as a Springborn Fellow at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2013 followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford until joining the faculty in 2016. He has been awarded the ASMS Research Award, the Bisgrove Scholar Award, and the NIH MIRA award. His research applies lipoprotein nanodiscs with mass spectrometry to study membrane proteins, antimicrobial peptides, and their interactions with lipid bilayers.

The Ralph N. Adams Award in Bioanalytical Chemistry recognizes significant contributions to the field of bioanalytical chemistry. The recipient will have introduced a significant technique, theory or instrument, or applications thereof, important to thte life sciences, and provided an exceptional environment to educate bioanalytical chemists. Ralph N Adams (1924-2002) exemplified these characteristics as a distinguished professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas.

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Susan M. Lunte is the Ralph N. Adams Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Director of the Adams Institute for Bioanalytical Chemistry, and Director of the NIH COBRE Center for Molecular Analysis of Disease Pathways at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. She received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Kalamazoo College and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Purdue University. She is the recipient of the 2018 ANACHEM Award, the 2021 ACS-ANL Roland F. Hirsch Distinguished Service Award, and the 2023 ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry in 2023. Dr. Lunte’s research interests includes the development of new methodologies for separation and detection of peptides, amino acids, neurotransmitters and pharmaceuticals in biological fluids. This includes separation-based sensors for the continuous monitoring of drugs and neurotransmitters in freely roaming animals and new methodologies for the determination of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in cells.

This Award recognizes contributions to the theory and application of chromatographic science.

Biography
Susan Olesik received her A.S. from Vincennes University B.A. from DePauw University in 1977 and her Ph.D. in 1982 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, under the auspices of James W. Taylor in analytical mass spectrometry. She was a postdoctoral fellow for analytical separation science with Milos Novotny at Indiana University from 1982-1984 and on gas phase ion chemistry with Tomas Baer at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill from 1984-1986. She has been a faculty member at The Ohio State University since 1986 and is current a University Distinguished Professor and Dean of Natural and Mathematical Sciences.

Her awards include: 2023, 2021 Analytical Scientist – 100 Most Influential Analytical Chemists, 2020 Ohio State University Distinguished University Professor,2020 Eastern Analytical Symposium Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Fields of Analytical Chemistry, 2019 Analytical Scientist-Top 20 Most Influential Analytical Chemists, 2017 Analytical Scientist- Top 10 Analytical Mentor, 2016 OSU President’s and Provost’s Council on Women –Glass Breaker’s Award, 2014 American Chemical Society (ACS) Helen M Free Award for Public Outreach, 2014 ACS Award in Chromatography, 2012 AAAS Fellow, 2010 OSU College of Engineering – Building Bridges Excellence Award, 2009 ACS Fellow, 2008 ACS National Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences; 2008 Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences; 2006 OSU Alumni Association Heinlen Award; 2005 Columbus Technical Council (CTC) Technical Person of the Year; 2004 ACS Columbus Section Award for Outstanding Achievement & Promotion of Chemical Sciences; 2000 AWISCO Woman in Science Award; and a commendation from NASA for contributing a GC column to Cassini-Huygen’s probe.

She is most known for research in three areas of separation science — Enhanced-fluidity Liquid Chromatography (EFLC), development of carbon stationary phases and design of nanoscale materials for chromatographic as well as mass spectrometric applications. Recent areas of study include studies of biologically relevant compounds and improving in efficiency in separation science and ionization efficiency in surface assisted laser desorption ionization (SALDI) using nanoparticle and nanofiber arrays and devices.

Biography
Dr. Jun Zhao received his B.S. in Chemical Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1992. He then moved to The Ohio State University where he was awarded a University Fellowship and earned an M.S. in Chemical Physics, and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry, both under the supervision of his mentor Dr. Richard McCreery. His exploration in a multichannel Fourier transform Raman spectrometer based on a Sagnac interferometer earned an honorable mention in the Collegiate Inventors Competition. His accomplishments at OSU also included the development of a mathematical formula for the Raman depolarization ratio of uniaxial-oriented molecules, a method to probe the molecular orientation of adsorbed monolayers, and seminal research on the corrosion inhibition mechanism of chromate conversion coatings on an aerospace aluminum alloy. This work earned him the Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the Ohio Valley Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.

Jun joined Chromex, Inc. in 1997 and together with colleague Dr. Fritz Allen, invented a Raman shift calibration method that produced highly accurate results using frequency-unstabilized diode lasers. It became a cornerstone technology of Raman products from Chromex and continued on with Bruker Optics. Together Drs. Zhao, Allen and Mike Carrabba developed an automatic fluorescence removal method by shifting the excitation wavelength of a diode laser and linearly transforming the difference spectrum, which inspired many researchers and led to further advancements using shifted excitations.

In 2003, Jun invented the concept of a compact, microscope-mountable confocal Raman spectrometer, and led the development of its embodiment. This design made an industry-wide impact by creating a new class of confocal Raman microscope. Many other manufacturers introduced their own versions. More than 20 year later, Senterra is still the flagship Raman microscopy product of Bruker. The Senterra class has become the most popular configuration of Raman microscope, and has appeared in hundreds of thousands of publications.

After leaving Bruker in 2015, Jun continued innovative research at B&W Tek which later became part of Metrohm. The algorithms and methods he developed are used in the company’s portable and handheld Raman products and earned recognitions such as 1st place of All-Star Innovators 2017 by Pharmaceutical Manufacturing magazine, and the 2018 Pittcon Today Excellence Gold Award. Jun is currently the Director of Engineering at Metrohm Spectro, Inc.

Jun has devoted his entire career to the advancement of Raman spectroscopy instrumentation and methods. The products and technologies he developed are deployed in countless academia, industrial, and governmental facilities, and have helped transform Raman spectroscopy from a laboratory curiosity to a common place analytical technique. Some of these are represented by his more than 90 patents, publications, and conference presentations, which have been cited more than 1,400 times.

Biography
Wolfgang Lindner, professor emeritus in analytical chemistry at the University of Vienna and the 2024 winner of the Lifetime Achievement in Chromatography Award. He has made significant contributions in liquid chromatography (LC) and the development of chiral drugs. He has developed and licensed several chiral stationary phases that have been widely used by both researchers and the pharmaceutical industry.

Biography
Martina Catani is an assistant professor of analytical chemistry at the University of Ferrara and the 2024 winner of the Emerging Leader in Chromatography Award. Her research focuses on the purification of polypeptides, oligonucleotides, and proteins by means of single-column and continuous countercurrent multi-column preparative liquid chromatography (LC); separation of natural cannabinoids; and investigation of kinetic and thermodynamic phenomena in chiral and achiral high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC).

Biography
Eric Bakker is chair of analytical chemistry at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. After his undergraduate studies in chemistry at ETH Zurich, he pursued his doctorate with Wilhelm Simon at the same institution, working on optical ion sensing principles and materials and becoming increasingly interested in ion-selective membrane theory. Throughout his doctorate work he was also a part-time project manager at Mettler-Toledo, where he developed a reference electrode element that avoids silver contamination, which was patented and since commercialized. He pursued postdoctoral studies at the University of Michigan with Mark Meyerhoff where he contributed to understanding how potentiometric polyion sensors work and how anion-responsive membrane electrode selectivity can be optimized. In his second year he also worked on a part time basis with Raoul Kopelman where he made contributions to fiber optic nanosensors. He subsequently started his independent academic career at Auburn University in Alabama in 1995 and rose through the ranks to become full professor in 2003. During this time he contributed to the understanding and improvement of the detection limit of ion-selective electrodes, developed dynamic electrochemistry methods for membrane electrodes and had a long standing collaboration with Beckman Coulter to develop particle-based optical sensors that can be read out by flow cytometry. In 2005 he moved to Purdue University as tenured full professor and in 2007 accepted a position of professor and institute director at Curtin University in Western Australia. In 2010 he was called to the University of Geneva for his current position. He has published over 400 papers that have been globally cited about 30,000 times. Eric also received the Robert Boyle Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Simon-Widmer Award from the Swiss Chemical Society. Having previously served as Associate Editor for Sensors and Actuators B, he was an inaugural Associate Editor for ACS Sensors and now serve as its Executive Editor. He is also a scientific advisor for Eaglenos, a diagnostic company based in Nanjing.

Biography
Long Luo received his B.S. (2009) in applied chemistry from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and his Ph.D. (2014) in chemistry from the University of Utah under the guidance of Prof. Henry S. White. Before joining Wayne State University in 2017, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Richard M. Crooks at the University of Texas at Austin. He received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, National Institute of Health Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA), Sloan Research Fellowship, and Wayne State University Academy of Scholars Junior Faculty Award, and was selected as a ChemComm Emerging Investigator, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. Young Investigator, and Nanoscale Emerging Investigator. He is the inaugural Carl R. Johnson Endowed Early Career Professor of Chemistry at Wayne State University. The research goal of his laboratory is to address the grand challenges of our times in environment, energy, and health by exploring the interdisciplinary frontiers of electrochemistry. His group has developed new electrosynthetic methods to prepare functional molecules and materials and new electroanalytical methods to solve emerging environmental problems.