SPEC PerkinElmer 10.13
|Articles|January 28, 2016

Lora Brehm Joins Spectroscopy’s Editorial Advisory Board

Spectroscopy magazine is pleased to announce the addition of Lora Brehm to its Editorial Advisory Board.

Spectroscopy magazine is pleased to announce the addition of Lora Brehm to its Editorial Advisory Board.

Brehm is a research scientist at Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan, specializing in X-ray fluorescence in the core analytical sciences department inorganic group. She received her B.S. and Masters degrees in chemistry from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Brehm’s work focuses on using X-ray fluorescence and other inorganic analysis techniques, including inductively coupled plasma techniques, neutron activation analysis, atomic absorption, and combustion elemental analysis to solve manufacturing and research and development problems for Dow. Her work has included the development of analytical methods for analysis of a variety of materials from analysis of unknowns, particle analysis, fire retardants, catalysts, polymers, additives, environmental samples, and thin layer analysis.

Brehm’s key projects have included the development of an X-ray fluorescence work flow to support high throughput catalyst research; the development of methodologies for analysis of solar cells; and the development and implementation of XRF methods and instrumentation in manufacturing quality control and research and development laboratories globally. She is the author of 155 internal Dow Research reports.


Related to this article

FACSS 2026 Award Interviews ©  Erin -chronicles-stock.adobe.com
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.
Spectral Frontiers: Past the Diffraction Limit (FT-IR Spectroscopy)
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.