The 2026 AES Mid-Career Award recipient explains how molecular-scale simulations of polyelectrolyte brush-grafted nanochannels are revealing unexpected flow behavior.

The 2026 Ellis R. Lippincott Award recipient discusses the barriers to clinical adoption of photonic diagnostics and his vision for personalized optical digital twins.

The University of Utah researcher discusses surface-area-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, lipid membrane studies, and his move into PFAS testing.

Honored with a dedicated Spectrochimica Acta Part B award session at SciX 2026, De Giacomo explains why larger nanoparticles produce stronger LIBS signals and what that means for sensing design.

In this Q&A, we explore some of the breakthroughs that have allowed spectrometers to be reduced in size while maintaining their effectiveness out in the field.

Wednesday's program at SciX 2026 kept returning to one question: can spectroscopy perform outside the controlled laboratory? Speakers took surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), mid-infrared photonics, chemometrics, and fluorescence excitation–emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy into clinics, food plants, reactor coolant loops, brine fields, and drinking water supplies.

As part of our coverage of the SciX 2026 Conference, Nancy Pleshko and Petra Baylin of Temple University sat down with Spectroscopy to talk about their recent study, explaining how Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) imaging of ultra-high weight molecular polyethylene (UHMWPE) implants permits oxidation evaluation throughout the sample yielding insight into failure.

A recent study explored using laser Brillouin spectroscopy to measure two key ocean parameters at once, a step toward remote profiling of the ocean's vertical structure.

Spectroscopy invites the scientific community to nominate an outstanding early-career atomic spectroscopist for the 2027 award. Nominations are due December 10, 2026.

The modular system is intended to help laboratories analyzing microplastics, pharmaceutical formulations, forensic evidence, and other microscopic samples.

Discover how handheld Raman spectroscopy is helping distinguish skin cancer from normal tissue, courtesy of researchers from Florida Atlantic University.

Eight FACSS award winners at SciX 2026, One LIBS trailblazer. Forty-eight questions. And not one of them is a softball. Award season in spectroscopy usually means polite applause, a plaque, and a photo. We're not completely interested only in the award sessions. The eight scientists honored at SciX 2026 in Sparks, Nevada, along with LIBS researcher Alessandro De Giacomo, are pushing Raman into operating rooms, flying LIBS on drones, reading chemistry off Mars, and tracing toxic metals downwind of industrial sites. Their work makes big claims. In the coming days, Spectroscopy will sit down with eight of these researchers and ask whether those claims hold up. The interviews that follow won't just celebrate. They'll press on the gaps between simulation and experiment, between the lab bench and the clinic, and between a clever paper and an instrument someone will actually buy and use.

Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, long the workhorse of molecular fingerprinting, is being reinvented by photothermal detection schemes and quantum cascade laser (QCL) sources that push spatial resolution and analysis speed far beyond classical dispersive and interferometric limits. New instrumentation such as optical photothermal infrared (O-PTIR) microscopy and laser direct infrared (LDIR) chemical imaging is enabling sub-micron, label-free chemical mapping of biological, environmental, and pharmaceutical samples. This article reviews the latest FT-IR-adjacent technologies, recent patents, and research driving the field, featuring perspectives from the scientists and instrument developers advancing the technique.

"Pathways in Spectroscopy" will be releasing weekly snippets from a recent panel discussion that focused on the state of spectroscopy education.

Welcome to “Analytically Speaking,” the podcast from LCGC International and Spectroscopy. In this episode, podcast co-hosts Dr. Dwight Stoll and Dr. James Grinias talk with Dr. Mark Schure, who has worked in separation science for over 35 years in both industry and academia. Over a 28-year period, he worked for Digital Equipment Corporation, the Rohm and Haas Company, and the Dow Chemical Company. Since then, he has served as Chief Technology Officer for Kroungold Analytical, and he has been an adjunct professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware for over 20 years. Dr. Schure is a widely recognized expert in separation science who has published more than 110 papers, holds numerous patents, and edited the book Multidimensional Liquid Chromatography. His scientific interests encompass the fundamental separation science of complex molecules, polymers, and colloids, alongside 2D chromatography, retention mechanisms, and field flow fractionation. He has received numerous accolades, including the Eastern Analytical Symposium Award in Separation Science and the Uwe Neue Award from the HPLC conference. In a wide ranging conversation recorded live at the HPLC 2026 conference in Indianapolis following a memorial session for Prof. Peter Carr, we explore Mark’s unique entry into separation science, which benefited from prior experiences building amplifiers and electronics before transitioning to write Fortran software as a consultant for chemists at Northeastern University. We then discuss Mark’s foundational simulation work in field flow fractionation (FFF), including his approaches to modeling Coriolis effects and sedimentation. We also spend some time talking about Mark’s pioneering theoretical contributions to 2D chromatography on topics including sampling rate and detection limits. Finally, Mark shares his perspective on the intense inter-diffusion of information between his modeling group and Pete Carr and Ilja Siepmann at the University of Minnesota, the future of analytical chemistry, the need for improved analytical strategies for complex matrices like exosomes, and the potential for artificial intelligence to help identify unknown compounds in complex mixtures.

SpecAcademy is set to expand. Which courses should be added to the catalog? Five SpecAcademy instructors give their perspective.

Top content published this week include a panel discussion with five SpecAcademy instructors and a feature article on Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy.

In this Q&A, we provide an overview of what the latest “What’s Nu” covered, which includes new research in environmental analysis and clinical analysis.

How has spectroscopy training changed? A recent panel discussion explored this topic, discussing how SpecAcademy can widen access without losing the value of hands-on instruction.

How has spectroscopy education evolved over the years?

FT-IR spectroscopy, long treated as a mature bench technique for confirming a carbonyl stretch or fingerprinting a polymer, has quietly become one of chemistry’s most versatile discovery engines: it now infers molecular structure straight from a spectrum without a reference library, resolves chemistry tens of nanometers wide, and screens a fingerstick of blood for disease in minutes. The last five years of published research show FT-IR moving from a confirmatory tool into a predictive, autonomous, and field-ready analytical platform.

In this panel discussion, five SpecAcademy instructors examined why spectroscopy expertise has declined and how SpecAcademy aims to rebuild it through curated, fundamentals-based education suited to increasingly complex analytical work.

A recent roundtable discussion with the SpecAcademy instructors explored why spectroscopy expertise has eroded and how SpecAcademy aims to rebuild it.

The agreement gives North American customers a stocked, domestic source for InGaAs PIN photodiodes and avalanche photodiodes from the Scottish manufacturer.

The gap between classroom training and industry practice is pushing analysts toward familiar techniques instead of the most appropriate ones.

Panelists from the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, the Coblentz Society, Syensqo, Specac, and the University of Georgia discuss how a mismatch between academic curricula and industry practice leaves many analysts unsure when, and how, to use infrared and Raman spectroscopy.

Gaps in spectroscopy education are costing companies time and money. What are these gaps and how are they being addressed?

Raman spectroscopy is entering one of its most consequential periods since its commercialization, driven by artificial intelligence, coherent heterodyne detection, and radical instrument miniaturization, with new deep-learning frameworks and portable systems moving Raman analysis into fields, factories, and crime scenes.