Session 910, Room 126B, 8:00 a.m.

The Coblentz Society/ABB – Bomem-Michelson Award will be presented to Brooks H. Pate, the William R. Kenan, Jr. professor of chemistry at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia), on Tuesday morning at Pittcon 2013. The award, which is dedicated to the memory of Professor A. E. Michelson, developer of the Michelson Interferometer, will be presented by the Coblentz Society. ABB sponsors the award to honor a scientist who has advanced the technique(s) of vibrational, molecular, Raman, or electronic spectroscopy.

Pate, a graduate of the University of Virginia, received his PhD in Chemistry from Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey) and was a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, Maryland). His research group has used ultrafast infrared laser spectroscopy and high-resolution spectroscopy to study the structure and dynamics of molecules and clusters. He introduced the technique of chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy and the field dynamic rotational spectroscopy. Current applications of broadband rotational spectroscopy include chemical analysis and interstellar chemistry.