Joel M. Harris Receives EAS Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Fields of Analytical Chemistry

The Eastern Analytical Symposium (EAS) Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Fields of Analytical Chemistry was presented to Joel M. Harris at EAS 2019 on Wednesday, November 20. Harris gave a plenary lecture, “Spectroscopy through the Microscope: Chemical Analysis at Liquid/Solid Interfaces.” 

Harris, a distinguished professor of chemistry at the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah), also holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Bioengineering. He earned his PhD from Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana) and then joined the faculty of the University of Utah. His research has focused on analytical chemistry and spectroscopic studies of low concentrations of molecules in liquids and at liquid-solid interfaces. Along with his students, he has advanced new concepts in photothermal spectroscopy, methods to analyze multidimensional spectroscopic data, Raman spectroscopy of transient species and interfaces, and quantitative analysis of interfacial molecular populations by imaging and counting individual fluorescent molecules. He and his students have applied these methods to investigate the kinetics and energetics of excited-states and reactive-intermediates, and molecular transport, adsorption, and binding kinetics that govern separations and analysis at liquid-solid interfaces.

Among his many affiliations, awards, and accomplishments, Harris is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a Fellow and Honorary Member of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. He is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the Coblentz Award in Molecular Spectro­scopy, the University of Utah Distinguished Research Award, the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Award in Chemical Instrumentation, the SAS New York Section Gold Medal Award in Spectroscopy, the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award, the University of Utah Robert W. Parry Teaching Award, the University of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award, the Distinguished Service Award of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, the Benedetti-Pichler Award in Micro­chemistry, the Bomem-Michelson Award of the Coblentz Society, the Utah Governor’s Medal in Science and Technology, and the ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry.