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| Volume 19, Number 6 | March 2003 |
Table of Contents
| Tribute to the Columbia |
| Call For Papers! |
| Courses Offered at the 24th Annual Symposium |
| Meet the People in the News |
| Dr. J. Wartheson Tribute |
Calendar of Events |
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| May 13-15, 2003 | Spring Symposium |
TRIBUTE TO THE Columbia
Ravi Ravichandran, Editor
Until the morning of February 1, 2003, many of us did not even know that Columbia was on a 16 day long mission and was on its way to earth- just 16 minutes away from home when it met its fatal and fiery end. My point is that since its first mission in 1981, Space Shuttle missions have become so routine. We lost seven most valuable human lives in this fatal accident. I want to use this column to pay tribute to the brave men and women of Coulmbia and I invite you to pray for their grieving families. "The first view of the Earth is magical. … in such a small planet, with such a small ribbon of life, so much goes on. It is as if the whole place is sacred. You get the feeling that I need to work extraordinarily hard along with other human beings to respect that," said astronaut Kalpana Chawla in a 1998 interview. The 41-year-old Indian-American's sentiments about Earth's fragility — along with her achievements — resonated with people across the world when we learned about the Columbia disaster. This flight had several unique features. One such is that Columbia's crew included one from each of the following faiths: Hindu, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Charismatic, Unitarian, Episcopalian and Baptist. Another was that the crew had the first and only Indian woman Dr. Kalpana Chawla in a space shuttle along with the first Israeli astronaut Dr. Ilan Ramon. Let us all pray for their grieving families.
I reflect on the question should USA continue its space program. After all, we cannot but help if our minds go back to January 28, 1986 when we lost seven crew members when Challenger exploded 73 seconds after lift-off. Can we put a cost on the lives the 14 astronauts who perished in two space shuttle accidents ? Certainly not. They all knew well that great endeavors are inseparable from great risks. They all accepted the risks very willingly with a smiling face because they all believed strongly in discovery- exploration. The reality is exploration does not come without risk. All of the things we take for granted today are the results of the risky endeavors undertaken by scientists, engineers and other explorers of yesteryears. Continuing the space exploration is the best tribute we can pay to the heroes who perished doing what they loved to do joyfully in the cause of discovery.
Call for Papers!
MCF is now accepting abstracts for 24th Annual MCF Spring Symposium to be held on Thursday, May 15, 2003.
Submit abstracts on-line via the MCF web page (www.minnchrom.org) (select Symposium Info then Submit Abstract)
Exhibitor booths are filling fast.
Watch for the MCF Symposium entry in LC/GC Magazine (chromatographyonline.com) and American Laboratory (icspubs.com).
THERE IS STILL SPACE AVAILABLE!!
Courses Offered at the 24th Annual Symposium
Chromatographic Analysis of Foods and Flavors - Becky Wittrig (Restek)
Mass Spectral Interpretation - Phil Lyon and Stacy Hanson (3M)
Practical Advice for Developing Better GC Methods - Cameron George and Darren Decker (Agilent)
Troubleshooting HPLC Systems - John Dolan (LC Resources)
Registration Deadline for all courses is April 30, 2003. Visit the MCF website for registration details or watch for special mailings with course details!
Meet the People in the News!
Ravi Ravichandran
The ACS Award in Chromatography sponsored by Supelco Inc., goes to William S. Hancock , professor of chemistry at Northeastern University. The award recognizes his pioneering work –developing HPLC methods for the analysis of proteins and peptides. Few people can claim the wide-ranging career that he has had- a full circle from academia to government to industry and back to academia. Hancock, 58, after receiving his PhD from the University of Adelaide, Australia, taught at Massey University, New Zealand. He spent a sabbatical at FDA as a visiting scientist . His stint in industry includes a nine year term at Genetech, followed by a term at Hewlett Packard ( now Agilent Technologies) and finally a term at ThermoFinnigan as vice president and general manager of proteomics. He was recently named as Bradstreet Chair at Barnett Institute of Chemical & Biological Analysis at Northeastern University where he will be focusing on cancer proteomics. Barry Karger, director of the Barnett Institute says, "Through Hancock’s pioneering work, HPLC has become a required tool in peptide mapping and analysis of protein therapeutics. His ability to straddle the biotechnology and separation science communities has made his work significant. He has not only advanced the state of the art of HPLC in biotechnology, but also aided its wide adoption in the biotechnology area". Hancock has served on numerous editorial boards of journals and magazines. He is currently the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Proteome Research, an ACS journal. Hancock will present his award address before the Division of Analytical Chemistry in the 2003 ACS National meeting at New Orleans, LA.
The ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry goes to Richard D. Smith, Battelle fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories. Smith,, 53, received his PhD in physical chemistry in 1975 from the University of Utah and completed postdoctoral fellowship at Naval Research Laboratory in 1976. He has been at PNNL his entire career since 1976. His research interests are in the area of biological applications of mass spectrometry. Through out his entire career Smith has focused in finding better ways to interface separation techniques with mass spectrometry. According to Michael T. Bowers, Chemistry professor at UC, Santa Barbara, Smith has the knack of understanding the potential of new inventions and collaborating with top research groups around the country in applying the new inventions to solve challenging problems. He was one of the first people to recognize the potential of John Fenn’s electrospray method of ionization for which Fenn received the Nobel Prize in 2002. Smith heard Fenn give a presentation at the spring ACS meeting in 1984. Smith says "I got very excited by Fenn’s talk because it sounded like the ideal way of coupling CE and LC to mass spectrometry". Smith will present his award address before the Division of Analytical Chemistry in the 2003 ACS National meeting at New Orleans, LA.
The numerous contributions Ralph T. Yang, the Dwight F. Benton Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan , Ann Arbor will be recognized by the ACS Award in Separations Science &Technology. Yang, 60, received his PhD from Yale University in 1973. He spent nearly ten years at Argonne National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory. He spent two years at NSF as the program director of separation and purification processes. He taught at SUNY, Buffalo for 17 years before moving to the University of Michigan in 1995. Yang’s research interests in the past two decades include understanding adsorption dynamics , multicomponent equilibrium, and diffusion. His kinetic theory for predicting multicomponent diffusivity on surfaces and micropores has been widely accepted. His corrections to the Horwath-Kawazoe model for calculating micropore size distribution are being used in commercial instruments. His recent research involves development of new sorbents for difficult separations. He pioneered the p-complexation sorbents which are widely used in purification of olefins from traces of dienes and paraffins. He has developed a time and money saving methodology for designing and screening p-complexation sorbents using molecular orbital calculations. He has written the widely used book, "Gas Separation by Adsorption processes," and coedited "New Directions in Sorption Technology." His research has been included in his forthcoming book, "Adsorbents: Fundamentals and Applications," to be published by Wiley in March 2003. Yang will present his award address before the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry at the 2003 ACS National meeting at New Orleans, LA.
Obituary
Dr. Joseph J. Warthesen, a long-time member of MCF, passed away suddenly, Friday, Jan. 31,2003 at age 54. Dr. Warthesen was a Professor and Dept. Head of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of MN. Since 1987, he has been the director of the MN-SD Dairy Foods Research Center. He received his B.S. in Food Science and Industries in 1970 and M.S. in Food Science in 1971 from the U of MN. He received his Ph.D. in Food Science in 1974 from Oregon State University. Contributions may be sent to 'Warthesen 21st Century Graduate Fellowship',500 McNamara Center, University of MN Gateway, 200 Oak St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455.