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Waters buys Micromass
1 9 9 7 - 9 8 DAC officers
Waters Corporation announced in September the purchase of Micromass for $178 million. According to Douglas Berthiaume, chair and CEO of Waters, "Micromass gives Waters a broad presence in the MS marketplace, and it greatly enhances our position in the HPLC/MS market." Last year, Micromass posted net sales of ~$91 million. Micromass is based in the United Kingdom and sells a broad range of instruments for the MS market. The company traces its roots back to 1969 when it was launched as part of VG Instruments. In 1990, VG Instruments was acquired by Fisons which, in turn, was purchased by Thermo Instrument Systems in 1996. However, Thermo was barred by federal regulators from acquiring the MS business and as a result most of Fison's MS line was shifted to Micromass in a management buyout.
William R. Heineman of the University of Cincinnati began a one-year term as chair of the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry on Oct 1. J. Michael Ramsey of Oak Ridge National Laboratory will replace Heineman as chair-elect. Heineman Robert Thompson of Oberlin College is the secretary and Michelle Buchanan is treasurer. Sarah Rutan of Virginia Commonwealth University was elected councilor, and Roland Hirsch of the U.S. Dept. of Energy was re-elected councilor. They join Isiah Warner of Louisiana State University and Sally Stafford of Hewlett-Packard. Jon Parcher of the University of Mississippi was re-elected as an alternate councilor, joining Thomas Isenhour of Duquesne University, Karen Sentell of Ramsey Ciba Vision, and Richard Smith of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. As DAC chair, Heineman also serves as an ex officio member of Analytical Chemistry's Editorial Advisory yoard.
Horiba acquires ISA Horiba Ltd. (headquartered in Kyoto, Japan) announced its 100% acquisition of Instruments SA (ISA) (Paris, France) in September. Horiba manufactures environmental monitoring systems and is particularly known for its automobile engine emission analyzers. The company also focuses on medical and scientific analyzers, as well as electronic and computer devices. Before the acquisition of ISA, Horiba's estimated annual sales in the United States were —$410 miillon. ISA specializes in instrumentation for optical spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, emission spectrometry, thinfilmprocess monitoring, and forensic products. Prior to the acquisition, ISA's annual sales in the United States were ~$90 million. According to Horiba, the products of the two companies complement each other; therefore a wider range of products will now be offered. In addition, Horiba's sales network will become more global, as it can now tap into ISA's market in the United States and Europe.
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Chemists honored as mentors The value of a good mentor can never be overestimated; with judicial decisions toppling affirmative action programs in some of the largest university systems, mentoring will be even more important in keeping individuals from underrepresented groups interested in science. Two spectroscopists have been recognized by the White House for doing their part. Geraldine Richmond, professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon, and Isiah Warner chairman of the chemistry department at Louisiana State University Richmond calls were emong g1 mentoring g lifelong recipients of the commitment
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, November 1, 1997
1997 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. Nine institutions were also recognized. Richmond describes mentoring as a lifelong commitment that can involve interactions between colleagues as well as the typical adviser-advisee relationship. She makes an extra effort to actively recruit women at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels. She has managed to assemble a research group that has been consistently close to 50% women at the graduate level and closer to 80% at the undergraduate level (through an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates that she coordinates) According to Richmond a primary difference between mentoring men and women in science is that have less of a tendency to have a road map for their careers because there are few people in the profession thev can identify with Warner says that his strength Warner rays that aa s mentor grows it's natural to be a out of hih concern mentor for students. "People don't always agree with me, but I believe that when you're a teacher, it's natural to be a mentor," he says. An important function that a mentor serves is helping the students discover their options without actually making any decisions for them. Warner says that although many people assume that he focuses his efforts on African-American students, he mentors students from a wide variety of backgrounds. The recipients are nominated by their home institutions and show a proven track record of advising women and minority students. The Directorate for Education and Human Resources of the National Science Foundation administers the program for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. An independent panel reviews the nominations and makes recommendations. This program is in its second year. The award includes a $10,000 grant and a commemorative presidential certificate. The recipients were honored at a White House ceremony in September. Celia Henry
