Welcome to Day 2 of Pittcon 2008

Good Morning and welcome to Day 2 of LCGC's coverage of Pittcon 2008 from New Orleans, Louisiana. We have already seen many informative and innovative press conferences and technical sessions, as the rate of technical development in the field of analytical chemistry continues to advance at a staggering pace. And that pace only picks up today, as Tuesday is jam-packed with technical presentations and product launches that should interest any and everyone involved in separation science.

As I mentioned yesterday, tomorrow morning LCGC will be hosting its first awards luncheon to honor both the Emerging Leader in Chromatography and the Lifetime Achievement winner. However, today I would like to reveal the winners of these awards and provide some background information on them.

The winner of the Emerging Leader Award, who will be speaking tomorrow as he accepts his award, is Dr. Gert Desmet, of the Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Desmet comes highly recommended by colleagues and mentors throughout the industry, and his achievements in such a short span of time are truly impressive. He is currently the head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Free University, and he teaches courses on industrial separation processes in the biotech industry, bioreactor and chemical reactor engineering, nano- and microbiotechnology, and chromatography. His research focuses on the miniaturization of separation methods and on the investigation and modeling of flow effects in chromatographic systems. Speaking on his behalf will also be Dr. Helmut Schulenberg-Schell of Agilent Technologies.

The winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award is Dr. Walter Jennings, who most likely needs no introduction to LCGC’s audience. His achievements over the course of more than 60 years in this field are astounding. Dr. Jennings is currently professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis, and is the cofounder of J&W Scientific. Among his numerous awards are the L.S. Palmer Award of the Minnesota Chromatography Forum, the Founders Award in Gas Chromatography administered by the Beckman Corporation, the M.J.E. Golay Award, the Keene Dimick Award, the A.J.P. Martin Gold Medal of the Chromatographic Society of the U.K., the Silver Jubilee Award at the Symposium on Capillary Chromatography at Riva del Garde (1998), the Award of Distinction from the University of California, the Dal Nogare Award (2002), and the Anachem Award (2004). Speaking on his behalf and accepting the award in his stead will be LCGC columnist and long-time friend Ron Majors.

We are looking forward to an exciting event tomorrow, and please feel free to stop by our booth (#6051) for more information.