Editorial pubs.acs.org/ac
The 2013 Dreyfus Prize to Graham Cooks: Congratulations! ments. Without question, the field of analytical chemistry is richer as a result of his innovations.
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ongratulations to Professor Graham Cooks, who has received the 2013 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences, which will be presented to him at Purdue University at the end of September 2013. The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation established the Dreyfus Prize in 2009 as a biennial award to recognize “an individual for exceptional and original research in a selected area of chemistry that has advanced the field in a major way.” For each prize, a distinct topic in the Chemical Sciences is selected; for its third award, the Foundation selected the topic of chemical instrumentation. I find it exciting that the Dreyfus Foundation recognized the importance of chemical instrumentation; it certainly has made a number of important contributions to furthering scientific research and discovery. Even though many subfields of analytical measurement have continued to see enhancements over time, the field of mass spectrometry in particular has seen truly remarkable progress during the past few decades. Mass spectrometry now impacts almost every area of chemical measurement, and Prof. Cooks has advanced mass spectrometry measurements in many important ways. His early innovations included the creation of effective tandem mass spectrometry analyses and more recently, miniaturized portable mass spectrometers and novel ambient desorption/ionization approaches. These have been seminal advances! Perhaps not surprisingly, the Dreyfus Prize adds to his long list of honors, including the Frank H. Field & Joe L. Franklin Award, ACS Award for Analytical Chemistry, and the Ralph N. Adams Award (among many more). He has coauthored over nine hundred publications, an amazing milestone! Graham is a strong proponent of the importance of fundamental instrumentation development research support and works to champion this view with national and international workshops. He has been tireless in advocating for funding and education in instrumentation development, and we have all benefited from these efforts. And now a short, personal story about Graham. Most readers will not be aware of the Turkey Run Analytical Chemistry Conference, organized by and for the graduate students of Purdue University, the University of Indiana, and the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign (and recently added to the mix is the University of Notre Dame). The conference highlights the strong analytical traditions of these neighboring campuses. For many years, Graham has led groups of graduate students on night hikes in Turkey Run State Park, insisting that the students walk the trails without flashlights so that they may better view the world around them (or at least shake them up a little). When I think of Prof. Cooks, perhaps the first thought that should come to mind is his creation of desorption electrospray ionization or the hand-held mass spectrometer, but instead, I recall the images from his night hikes at Turkey Run. And yes, this tradition continues even today. Let me once again congratulate Graham Cooks for this welldeserved honor recognizing his many research accomplish© 2013 American Chemical Society
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Jonathan V. Sweedler AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
Published: August 19, 2013 8023
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ac402606s | Anal. Chem. 2013, 85, 8023−8023
