Analytical Chemistry Award for Young Investigators in Separation Science

The 2008 Analytical Chemistry Award for Young Investigators in Separation Science will be presented to Nelson Torto at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 11 in Room S401A of McCormick Place. The award is intended to recognize and encourage outstanding contributions to separation science by a young chemist or chemical engineer. Nomination is open to young chemists or chemical engineers of any nationality from academia, industry, or national laboratories. The nominee must have earned his or her highest degree within 10 years of January 1 of the year of the award. Nominees should have accomplished significant achievements in one or more of the following areas:

• Conceptualization and development of unique instrumentation for separations

• Development of novel and important separation methods or methodologies

• Elucidation of theory or fundamental processes involved in separations

• Other significant contributions to the furtherance of separation science

Nelson Torto currently is the secretary general of the southern and eastern African network of analytical chemists (SEANAC). His major responsibility is ensuring funding for SEANAC activities and analytical chemists. He played a major role in creating the network and in mentoring and strengthening the implementation of analytical chemistry. His research efforts have centered on microdialysis combined with HPLC, electrochemistry, and mass spectrometry. In more recent studies, he used the microdialysis technique to sample metal ions using chelating agents that help the diffusion of analytes across the dialysis membrane. Other areas of interest include supercritical fluid extraction, solid-phase microextraction, and solid-phase extraction for analyzing pesticides in water and sediments in southern Africa.

Torto received a B.Sc. degree from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UK), a masters degree in analytical chemistry from the University of Botswana (Gabarone, Botswana), and a Ph.D. from the University of Lund (Sweden).