Donald J. Douglas Wins 2022 Winter Conference Lifetime Achievement Award in Plasma Spectroscopy

Donald J. Douglas has won the 2022 Winter Conference Lifetime Achievement Award in Plasma Spectroscopy. Douglas will receive the award, presented by Thermo Fisher Scientific, on Monday, January 17, at the Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry in Tuscon, Arizona.

Douglas, one of the pioneers of inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), is being recognized for understanding critical fundamental challenges of the new technology and contributing fundamentally to its development as a widespread analytical tool. His publications describe the problems and solutions that include molecular-beam-style sampling of the ICP (the now-ubiquitous sampler-skimmer); and capacitive coupling leading to a “pinch” discharge, and the balanced load coil that suppresses this. He was one of the first to study the use of collision and reaction cells with ICP-MS and is likely the first to consider specific ion-molecule reactions to resolve isobaric interferences.

Douglas is a Professor Emeritus and Honorary Professor at the University of British Columbia (Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada). He received his BSc from McMaster University (Hamilton, Canada), and his PhD from the University of Toronto (Canada).

This award has been presented biennially since 2010. Past winners are:

2010 Prof. Ramon Barnes

2012 Dr. Sabine Becker

2014 Prof. Gary M. Hieftje

2016 Prof. Nicoló Omenetto

2018 Prof. Robert S. Houk

2020 Prof. Scott Tanner.

The award is sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific, but winners are chosen by an independent scientific committee. The winner is awarded a sum of $5,000 USD, travel support to the conference, and meeting registration. More information about the awards is available on the Thermo Fisher Scientific website.