Specac Limited, a provider of accessories for infrared and X-ray spectroscopy has won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, in the category of International Trade.

Bruker Corporation (Billerica, Massachusetts) has acquired Anasys Instruments Corporation, a privately held company that develops and manufactures nanoscale infrared (nano IR) spectroscopy and thermal measurement instruments such as atomic force microscopy and white-light interferometric 3D microscopy.

The March meeting of the New York–New Jersey Chapter of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (NYSAS) was held on March 28 in the Ceramics Research building at Rutgers University. The invited speaker was Professor John A. Reffner of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, New York.

Here, we present a selection of statistics we collected this year that characterize this year’s salary survey.

Spectroscopy is seeking contributed manuscripts for its August 2018 supplement on infrared (IR) spectroscopy, including far-infrared, mid-infrared, and near-infrared (NIR) techniques.

Our new sister publication, Cannabis Science and Technology (CST), launched in March 2018.

Nearly six months after Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico, residents there are still coping with the aftermath. Among those affected are university professors and students, particularly in the sciences, because the long period without electricity and mold growth severely damaged and in some cases destroyed sensitive equipment and laboratories. To gain a fuller picture of the situation, we talked to Fabiola Pagán Meléndez, an undergraduate chemistry student from the University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras Campus, about her experience and how the storm has affected her studies and future plans. Pagán is also a journalist for the student-run media outlet Pulso Estudiantil, and right after the hurricane, she recorded a video that was distributed by NBC News. She was also quoted in a story in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The February meeting of the New York-New Jersey Chapter of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (NYSAS) was held on February 20 at Fairleigh Dickinson University, organized in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Science, Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society, and the Gamma Sigma Epsilon Chemistry Honor Society.

A team of researchers at Mississippi State University has used laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to compare a variety of commercial milk products.

In a recent study, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was used, for the first time, to quantitatively analyze powder materials used in additive technologies.

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, leaving the inhabitants without clean water, food, utilities and transportation. As you read this, the infrastructure is slowly being restored. The news you hear, however, doesn’t indicate the outsized impact on scientists and their families. The Society for Applied Spectroscopy and Coblentz Society are trying to help.

-For a complimentary listing of your new product  in Spectroscopy's annual review of new products, please download and complete the form below. All information will be kept confidential until publication in the May 2017 issue. PLEASE NOTE:-

The December meeting of the New York–New Jersey chapter of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (NYSAS), held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (“The Met”), drew an audience of students and professionals to hear talks on material testing by Eric Breitung, PhD, a senior research scientist, and Catherine Stephens, PhD, an associate research scientist, both from The Met.

Elemental Scientific, Inc. (ESI), of Omaha, Nebraska, has acquired Electro Scientific Industries’ laser ablation division.

At the November meeting of the New York–New Jersey Chapter of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy an attentive audience heard David Hopkins present his work on the effective use of derivatives in spectroscopy.

The October meeting of the New York–New Jersey chapter of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (NYSAS) drew a large crowd to hear a talk on three-dimensional (3D) printing and chemical imaging by Emil Ciurczak, a consultant on laboratory and process applications of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy.

The 2017 New York Society for Applied Spectroscopy Gold Medal Award was presented to Richard P. Van Duyne at the Eastern Analytical Symposium and Exposition in Plainsboro, New Jersey on October 13.

A new nonprofit laboratory in Wilmington, Delaware, will provide laboratory space and access to experienced laboratory staff for entrepreneurs.

At the September 27, 2017, meeting of the New York–New Jersey chapter of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, Gene Hall, a professor of analytical chemistry at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, shared some of his recent work using Raman spectroscopy, mid-infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC–TOF-MS) to analyze omega-3 fatty acid supplements marketed for pets.

David A. Bryce received the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS) Barbara Stull Graduate Student Award at SciX 2017. The award recognizes a graduate student for outstanding research in spectroscopy. He also is the recipient of the 2017 Coblentz Society’s William G. Fately Student Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to vibrational spectroscopy during a current PhD program.

Nick Riley is the winner of the FACSS Student Award at SciX 2017. He earned his B.S. degree in chemistry and psychology from the University of South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina) with honors from the South Carolina Honors College, where he was a Robert C. McNair Scholar. He conducted undergraduate research in forensic analytical chemistry with Dr. Stephen L. Morgan and developed a fascination for the instrumentation he used while in the Morgan laboratory. 

John M. Cottle, a professor of earth science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has won the 2018 Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy Award, which is presented by Spectroscopy magazine.

Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, used the laboratory’s unique neutron-imaging and high-energy X-ray capabilities to expose the inner structures of the fossil skull of a 74-million-year-old tyrannosauroid dinosaur nicknamed “Bisti Beast.”

The New York Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (NYSAS) has announced its initial lineup of speakers for its meeting for its fall 2017 meetings.

Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, California) has acquired Cobalt Light Systems (Oxfordshire, United Kingdom), a provider of Raman spectroscopic instruments for the pharmaceutical industry, applied markets, and public safety.

Applications are invited for the 2018 Gordon F. Kirkbright Bursary Award. This prestigious award is given annually to enable a promising student or tenured young scientist of any nation to attend a recognized scientific meeting or visit a place of learning.

A major international center for scientific research in the Middle East, supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), recently was inaugurated in Jordan.