NEWS Bennett Receives Wiley Award R e g i n a l d W. B e n n e t t , deputy chief of the Food and Drug Admin istration's Food Microbiology Meth ods Development Branch and head of its research group on serological methods, is the 1991 recipient of the Harvey W. Wiley Award. The annual award, established in 1956 in honor of Wiley, the father of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and a founder of the Association of Official Analytical Chem ists (AOAC), recognizes a scientist's role in protecting the consumer and environmental quality. Bennett, who is being recognized for his contribu tions toward the advancement of analytical science, will receive the award at the 105th AOAC meeting in Phoenix on August 12. Bennett is being honored for his work in detecting microbial contamination of food and determining the epidemiological causes of contamination. Specifically, he is known for his work with microslide gel diffusion for detecting and semiquantitating staphylococcal enterotoxin contamination, for refining extraction meth ods for microbial toxins, for developing analytical methods for purifying Bacillus toxins, for the schematization οι Listeria serotyping, and for developing meth ods for serological renaturing of heat-treated S. aureus enterotoxin.
Raman Map Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) Center for Advanced Materials have developed a new Raman spectroscopic analysis technique that rapid ly maps the chemical composition or the physical prop erties of material surfaces. "The speed at which we can collect and analyze data makes possible experiments that would not have been considered previously," says Gerd Rosenblatt. For instance, LBL scientists observed that in the vi cinity of a crack in crystalline samples of zirconia the material undergoes a phase transition from a tetragonal to a monoclinic structure. They have also mapped sur face details on carbon fibers and diamond films. The technique uses a low-noise 2D detector with an imaging photomultiplier tube to simultaneously collect scattered Raman light from more than 1000 spatial ele ments along a line excited by the laser—typically 15 μπι wide by 3 mm long. The raw data are then analyzed in real time by an LBL program called ChemMap. The real-time analysis allows researchers to store only pro cessed data, conserving computer memory space. "Data from one acquisition cycle are analyzed while the next data set is being acquired," explains Rosen blatt. "Through repeated collection and analysis cycles, we build up a two-dimensional map, based upon per haps 60,000 Raman spectra, in a few hours." Rosenblatt and his co-workers have copyrighted ChemMap for commercial licensing. "In principle, our methods can be copied for other techniques," he says.
Murray Elected to National Academy of Sciences R o y c e W. Murray, Kenan Profes sor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Editor of ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. The Academy, chartered by Congress in 1863, is an official science and technology advis er to the U.S. government. Murray is one of 60 scientists and engineers recently elected; the total membership is 1626. In addi tion, 15 nonvoting foreign associates also were selected, raising their total number to 277. Members of the Academy are elected "in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research." Election to the Academy is consid ered one of the most prestigious distinctions to be awarded to an American scientist or engineer.
High-Resolution Neutron Spectrometer at NIST Research managers from industry, government, and academia have inaugurated the first advanced materials instrument sponsored by the private sector: a high-reso lution neutron spectrometer. The instrument was de signed and built in a joint venture between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Exxon Research and Engineering Co., and the University of Minnesota's Center for Interfacial Engineering. The $1.5 million spectrometer can be used to observe atomic and molecular structures of ceramics, polymers and polymer blends, metal alloys, biomolecules, and other materials. The 30-m small-angle neutron scattering spectrome ter (SANS), located at NIST's Cold Neutron Research Facility, is the first high-resolution SANS available to U.S. scientists. According to NIST director John Lyons, the collaboration "exemplifies the new model for NIST interactions with the private sector in support of indus trial competitiveness."
For Your Information The 1991 NIST Standard Reference Data Products Catalog (NIST SP 782, 1991 ed.) is now available. The catalog provides the latest information on data compu tations, publications, and computerized databases avail able from both the NIST Standard Reference Data Pro gram and other sources. Critically evaluated data compilations are available in the following areas: ana lytical chemistry, atomic physics, chemical kinetics, ma terials properties, molecular structure and spectroscopy, thermodynamics and thermochemistry, and thermophysical properties of fluids. To obtain a copy of the cat alog, send a self-addressed mailing label to Standard Reference Data Program, A320 Physics Bldg., NIST, Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (301-975-2208). ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 63, NO. 13, JULY 1, 1991 · 673 A
