A Legend of Environmental Chemistry
Gary M. Hieftje
(from http://www.pitt.edu/~plu/PL/hieftje.htm, accessed 1 May 2008)
Photo by: Tyagan Miller
Professor Gary M. Hieftje is Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He received the A.B. degree from Hope College, Holland, Michigan in 1964 and the PhD in 1969 from the University if Illinois under the direction of H.V. Malmstadt. From 1964 to 1965 he served as a research associate in physical chemistry at the Illinois State Geological Survey in Urbana, Illinois. In 1969, he was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at Indiana University, was promoted to associate professor in September, 1973, and to full professor in July, 1977. He received a special appointment to a Distinguished Professorship in April, 1985. His research interests include the investigation of basic mechanism in atomic emission, absorption, and fluorescence spectrometric analysis, asn the development of atomic methods of analysis. He is interested also in the on-line computer control of chemical instrumentation and experiments, the use of time-resolved luminescence processes for analysis, the application of information theory to analytical chemistry, near-infrared reflectance analysis, and the use of stochastic processes to extract basic and kinetic chemical information.
He is a member of the American Chemical Society, the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, the Optical Society of America, Sigma Xi, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Phi Mu Alpha. He was co-chairman of the 1979 Analytical Summer Symposium on Lasers in Analytical Chemistry, the chairman of the 1982 Gordon Research Conference on Analytical Chemistry, the chairman of the National Publications Committee for the Society of Applied Spectroscopy on 1983, the chairman of the Honorary Membership Committee for the Society of Applied Spectroscopy in 1985 and General Chairman of the 1987 Analytical Summer Symposium in Biotechnology. He has served on the strumentation advisory panel and editorial board of Analytical Chemistry. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Analytica Chimica Acta, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectroscopy, Laboratory Microcomputer, Spectrochimica Acta, Part B, Advances in Inorganic Mass Spectrometry, the Analytical Chemistry Bench Top Series from Springer Verlag, Talanta, Progress in Analytical Spectroscopy, and Spectroscopy and Spectral Analysis.
In 1983, he was the co-recipient of an IR-100 award for the development of the atomic absorption background correction technique that bears his name, and in the summer of 1983, he received a senior guest fellowship from the Science and Engineering Research Council of Great Britain. In 1984, he was the recipient of the Meggers Award, the Lester W. Strock Award, and the Anachem Award. In 1985, he received the American Chemical Society Chemical Instrumentation Award, and in 1986 both the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award and the Theophilus Redwood Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was also chairman (1985-86) of the Analytical Division of the American Chemical Society. In 1987 he received the American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry sponsored by the Fisher Scientific Company and the Tracy M. Sonneborn Teacher-Scholar Award from Indiana University. In that year, he was also elected to Fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1988, he received a second R&D 100 Award (formerly the IR-100) for the development of a device and algorithm to detect contaminants and adulterants in pharmaceutical products. In 1989 he was presented the Award in Spectrochemical Analysis from the Analytical Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society. Also in 1989, he was awarded honorary rank of Fellow from Indiana Academy of Science and was co-recipient with one of his students of an award to recognize the best paper of 1988 published in the journal Spectrochimica Acta, Part B. He currently serves as President of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.
(from http://info.chem.indiana.edu/sb/page/normal/154.html, accessed 1 May 2008)
Distinguished Professor and Robert and Marjorie Mann Chair, Chemistry Department
Distinguished Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Education:
Ph.D. at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1969
A.B. at Hope College, 1964
Awards and Honors:
IR 100 Award (one of the 100 most-significant new technical products of the year),1983
Anachem Award,1984
Meggers Award for year 1983, Society for Applied Spectroscopy,1984
Lester W. Strock Medal, Society for Applied Spectroscopy,1984
Chemical Instrumentation Award, American Chemical Society, Analytical Division,1985
Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award, Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh,1986
Theophilus Redwood Award, Royal Society of Chemistry, United Kingdom, 1986
ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry Sponsored by Fisher Scientific Company, 1987
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow,1987
Tracy M. Sonneborn Award, Indiana University,1987
Pergamon/Spectrochimica Acta Atomic Spectroscopy Award,1988
R&D 100 Award, Research & Development Magazine,1988
Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, Honorary Membership,1988
Award in Spectrochemical Analysis, American Chemical Society, Analytical Division,1989
Indiana Academy of Science, Fellow,1989
Pergamon/Spectrochimica Acta Atomic Spectroscopy Award,1991
Eastern Analytical Symposium Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Fields of Analytical Chemistry,1992
Lester W. Strock Medal, Society for Applied Spectroscopy,1992
Golden Key National Honor Society, Honorary Member,1993
Distinguished Faculty Award, Indiana University Arts and Sciences Alumni Association,1993
Honorary Professor, Jilin University, Jilin, China,1995
Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists, Alexander Von Humboldt - Stiftung, Germany,1996
Meggers Award for year 1995, Society for Applied Spectroscopy,1996
Excellence in Teaching Award, American Chemical Society, Analytical Division,1998
Gill Chair, College of Arts & Sciences, Indiana University,1999
Society for Applied Spectroscopy, Honorary Membership,1999
Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award,2001
Indiana Academy of Science Speaker of the Year, 2000-2001
Trustees Teaching Award, Indiana University - 2002
Research:
Research in our group generally involves the areas of spectrochemical analysis, chemical instrumentation, and information theory; with particular emphasis on mass spectrometry and optical techniques in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared regions. Current projects include studies on basic atom formation, ionization, and excitation processes in flames and rare-gas plasmas, for use in atomic emission, absorption, mass, and fluorescence spectrometry; the development of new atomic methods of analysis; instrumental techniques to reduce the effects of background noise on measurements; computer-assisted chemical analysis; remote analysis based on fiber optics; near-infrared reflectance analysis; development of chromatographic detectors; plasma-source mass spectrometry; and picosecond time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy. Two of these projects are described briefly in the following paragraphs.
Flame and plasma atomic spectrometry are currently the most widely used techniques for elemental analysis. However, these methods are still impaired by interference among elements, limited sensitivity, and instrumental complexity. It is our firm belief that these limitations can be largely overcome by gaining a basic understanding of the underlying phenomena in each of the methods and then carefully designing improved instrumentation. To this end, we have a substantial ongoing effort to understand and mechanistically characterize the events leading to the formation, ionization, and excitation of atoms in flames and rare-gas plasmas. The efficiency with which atoms are formed, ionized, and excited governs both the sensitivity and the degree of elemental interference in such methods. Understanding the formation and excitation processes of atoms and ions will lead to a rational improvement in instrument performance.
In another area, novel mass spectrometers are being designed that are intended for use in the field of proteomics. A large fraction of known proteins contain metal atoms; in such situations, it is important to characterize not only the protein, but which metal atoms it contains, how many metal atoms there are, and if there is more than one kind of metal present. To address this problem, we have devised a novel time-of-flight mass spectrometer that accepts two ion sources simultaneously. When coupled to a separations device (LC or electrophoresis), this new tool is expected to be important in the characterization of proteins.
Selected Publications:
"Evolution and revolution in instrumentation for plasma-source mass spectrometry," with J. H. Barnes, et al. Pure Appl. Chem., 73, 1579 (2001).
Analytical capabilities of an inductively coupled plasma Mattauch-Herzog mass spectrometer," with D. A. Solyom, O. A. Grøn, and J. H. Barnes. Spectrochim. Acta, Part B, 56, 1717 (2001).
"Microwave plasma torch—atmospheric sampling glow discharge modulated tandem source for the sequential acquisition of molecular fragmentation and atomic mass spectra," with S. J. Ray. Anal. Chim. Acta, 445, 35 (2001).
"Standardless semiquantitative analysis of metals using single-shot laser ablation inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry," with A. M. Leach. Anal. Chem., 73, 2959 (2001).
"Design and characterization of a radioluminescent temperature sensor," with A. M. Leach and R. A. Potyrailo. Anal. Chim. Acta, 412, 47 (2000).
"Use of the original silicone cladding of an optical fiber as a reagent-immobilization medium for intrinsic chemical sensors," with R. A. Potyrailo. Fres. J. Anal. Chem., 364, 32 (1999).
"Comparison of digital correlation techniques in time-resolved fluorometry using a radionuclide-scintillation excitation source," with D. L. Burden. Rev. Sci. Instru., 70, 50 (1999).
"Plasma-source sector mass spectrometry with array detection," with D. A. Solyom and T. W. Burgoyne. J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom., 14, 1101 (1999).
"Development of a direct current gas sampling glow discharge ionization source for the time-of-flight mass spectrometer," with J. P. Guzowski Jr., J. A. C. Broekaert, and S. J. Ray. J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom., 14, 1121 (1999).
"Preliminary investigations of electrothermal vaporization sample introduction for inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry," with P. P. Mahoney, S. J. Ray, and G. Li. Anal. Chem., 71, 1378 (1999).
"Use of analyte-modulated modal power distribution in multimode optical fibers for simultaneous single-wavelength evanescent-wave refractometry and spectrometry," with R. A. Potyrailo and V. P. Ruddy. Anal. Chem., 71, 4956 (1999).
"Use of an air/argon microwave plasma torch for the detection of tetraethyllead," with B. W. Pack and Q. J. Jin. Anal. Chim. Acta, 383, 231 (1999).
"Characterization of 22-mm torch for ICP-AES," with J. A. Horner. Appl. Spectrosc., 53, 713 (1999). |
