Will Wetzel

The 2024 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry is set to be an exciting week. Here is what to expect from the conference, and why I'm excited to attend in person for the first time.

Spectroscopy spoke with Alexandra Deal about her latest research in using infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS) to analyze molecules at the surface level.

A joint content series from LCGC and Spectroscopy will launch in the first quarter of 2024.

Felipe Bachion de Santana of Teagasc in Wexford, Ireland, is exploring new ways to monitor soil quality through using spectroscopic techniques. Spectroscopy spoke to him about his team’s work in monitoring the quality of soil to improve agricultural efficiency.

Monica Arienzo, an associate research professor in the Division of Hydrologic Sciences at the Desert Research Institute, and her team recently used ATR-FT-IR to determine the polymer composition of plastic litter recovered by scuba divers from the lakebed of Lake Tahoe. Spectroscopy spoke to Arienzo about the significance of her work and how spectroscopy can be used to help monitor plastic litter in the environment.

A collection of our video interviews from SciX 2023 are archived here.

This year’s conference included 12 tracks with sessions highlighting everything from mail security to art analysis and AI.

At the SciX Conference in Sparks, Nevada, Spectroscopy magazine sat down with Mathew Horrocks of the University of Edinburgh to discuss his research developing and using single-molecule and super-resolution microscopy techniques to study amyloid oligomers and their commonality regarding a variety of neurodegenerative disorders.

At the SciX Conference in Sparks, Nevada, Spectroscopy magazine sat down with Karen Esmonde-White of Endress+Hauser to talk about her career transition and how Raman spectroscopy has evolved over the years.

Spectroscopy sat down with 2023 Lester W. Strock Awardee Maria Montes-Bayon to talk about her research and what winning the Strock award means to her.

Fresh off his plenary talk at SciX, Wei Xiong sat down with Spectroscopy magazine to talk about his career accomplishments and what he enjoys most about his job.

The opening keynote reviews how FACSS has evolved over a 50-year period, and where it is going in the future.

As a preview to SciX 2023, Spectroscopy magazine sat down with Ishan Barman of Johns Hopkins University to ask him about his thoughts on how artificial intelligence may impact spectroscopic research going forward.

As a preview to SciX 2023, Spectroscopy magazine sat down with Juergen Popp of the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology to ask him about his research exploring the use of Raman spectroscopy in applications such as infectious diseases and cancer diagnostics.

Bruno Pagano, full Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Naples Federico II (Italy), and his team have turned to UV resonance Raman (UVRR) spectroscopy to better understand these interactions. Spectroscopy spoke to Prof. Pagano about his work and the potential of UVRR spectroscopy as a valuable tool for studying G-quadruplex structures in biologically relevant conditions.

Spectroscopy magazine is pleased to announce that on August 29th, we will release a new content series titled, "Spectroscopy and Archaeology," which will recognize the current work of spectroscopists in the field of archaeology.

The detection of life on other planets is a research area of focus for scientists in space exploration. In this Q&A, Andreas Riedo of the Physics Institute at the University of Bern offers his thoughts on how spectroscopy is being used to detect organic molecules that are relevant for life.

On July 20th, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made history by becoming the first humans to land on the moon. Today, 54 years later, Spectroscopy magazine highlights how spectroscopy is playing a role in advancing space exploration.

The study of exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system, is becoming increasingly important in space exploration. Scientists are working to characterize these planets and Raman spectroscopy is playing a key role. Andrew Mattioda, a research scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center, is on the front lines of this research.

Spectroscopy magazine is pleased to announce the launch of a new one-day content series titled, “Spectroscopy and Space Exploration,” which will take place this Thursday, July 20th, 2023.

Spectroscopists offer their views on their salaries and the current job market, weighing in on topics such as job security, economic recession, and skill sets of new workers.

Professor Martin Zanni, the Meloche-Bascom Professor of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his colleagues explored how to resolve diagonal peaks using a polarization scheme that can be implemented in pump-probe beam geometry—not only in two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) spectroscopy but also in TA spectroscopy. Zanni is the 2022 recipient of the Ellis R. Lippincott Award. This interview is part of an ongoing series of interviews with the winners of awards that are presented at the annual SciX conference, which will be held this year from October 2 through October 7, in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area.

Mohamed Abdel-Harith of Cairo University and his team explored using BRELIBS for the elemental analysis of the synagogue’s glass shards. Their findings reveal the potential of BRELIBS in conducting elemental analysis on transparent materials. Spectroscopy recently spoke to Abdel-Harith about this work.

Meat fraud has emerged as a growing concern globally. The adulteration, substitution, or mislabeling of meat products has resulted in negative economic effects, such as unfair competition in the global marketplace, as well as ethical concerns, because consumers want to know what is in the meat they are consuming. Ismail H. Boyaci of Hacettepe University and his team have explored using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for protein-based analysis and the identification of meat species. Spectroscopy recently spoke to Boyaci about this work.

What can spectroscopic techniques, such as portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (PXRF), reveal about the sarsen megaliths of Stonehenge and where they originated?

Zac Schultz of The Ohio State University and his team used tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with gold nanostars to investigate chemical reactions involved in protein–ligand binding. He recently spoke with Spectroscopy about his findings.

Professor Rohit Bhargava and his team at the University of Illinois, where they have established the Cancer Center at Illinois, are advancing research in tumor microenvironments, using techniques such as high-definition Fourier transform infrared (HD-FT-IR) coupled with machine learning. We recently spoke to Bhargava about this work.