Welcome to Day 2 of Pittcon 2010

Good morning, and welcome to Day 2 of LCGC’s E-Show Dailies from Pittcon 2010. Pittcon is officially in full swing, with a host of technical sessions, awards, and other events taking place today, all covered here by the staff of LCGC.

However, we would be remiss if we didn’t report back to readers on an event that has already happened. One of the biggest events of the week took place yesterday in Room 303ABC the Orange County Convention Center: The LCGC/Pittcon Awards. This year’s winners were again two worthy and well respected figures in the field of separation science, as Georges Guiochon of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, took home the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award and Jared Anderson, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, took home the Emerging Leader Award.

Dr. Guiochon is one of the most recognizable figures in the field of chromatography, having received the M.S. degree in engineering from the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, France, and the Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Paris. He was a Professor of chemistry at Ecole Polytechnique until 1985 and at the University of Paris VI or Universite Pierre et Marie Curie until 1984. He then moved on to Georgetown University, Washington, DC, from 1984 to 1987, and he was appointed a UTK/ORNL Distinguished Scientist in June 1987. He is currently a Distinguished Professor with the Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and is a Senior Scientist with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Division of Chemical and Analytical Sciences, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. His research interests include all aspects of gas and liquid chromatography, theory, instrumentation, and applications, and the problems of physical chemistry related to chromatography.

Dr. Anderson is one of the brightest young stars in the field. He received the B.S. degree in chemistry from South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota in 2000 (certified by the American Chemical Society), and the Ph.D. degree in analytical chemistry in 2005 from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, with well-known expert (and LCGC Editorial Advisory Board member) Daniel W. Armstrong acting as his advisor. He was an assistant Professor with the Department of Chemistry, University of Toledo, from 2005–2009 before he became an associate professor with tenure in 2009, a position he currently holds. His research interests currently include the synthesis, development, and characterization of room temperature ionic liquids; uses of ionic liquids as novel media in chromatography and analytical extractions; all aspects of separation science; and applications of ionic liquids in membranes and biomass.

Congratulations to both winners and thanks to all of you who attended the award press conference to help us honor these two deserving candidates.