News
GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY
International MS society moves forward Call it the United Nations of mass spectrometry. The International Mass Spectrometry Society (IMSS) is now a reality. The society was officially incorporated in The Netherlands in March. The society was set in motton at the 1994 International Mass Spectrometry Conference and officially founded at the 1997 conference. Graham Cooks of Purdue University is currently serving as the society's president. He emphasizes that the society is not competing with any of the existing national mass spectrometry societies. In fact, the society has three categories of membership—individual, institutional, and corporate. Thirty-seven national societies are represented as institutional members. Currently, however, there are no individual memberships. "We haven't solicited individual memberships yet," Cooks says. "Our next major action is the 2000 meeting, [which will be held in Barcelona, Spain]. The preparation for that meeting will go on for the next two years. We are still in the process of setting up house." Cooks sees a strong service component of the IMSS. "An international organization helps put people in touch with one another and thereby gets funding and advances mass spectrometry in that sort of way. There's also a need to do something about the development of the subject in places that are not [particularly] technologically advanced. There are places where getting hold of a mass spectrometry or analytical chemistry journal is a difficult thing. There's a service aspect to this [society]." The society is the result of a move to protect and formalize the International Mass Spectrometry Conference, a meeting that has been held triennially since 1958. The conferences have resulted in the series of publications entitled Advances si Mass Spectrometry. Celia Henry
312 A
PEOPLE
Velmer A. Fassel, 1919-98
research throughout the world. He won virtually all the awards available to analytical spectroscopists, including the Fisher Award, the Spectrochemical Analysis Award, the Chemical Instrumentation Award, and the Iowa Award from the Iowa Section of the American Chemical Society. Fassel is survived by his wife, Mary; one brother; and two sisters. Memorial services will be held for him in Ames May 19 and 20,1998. Memorials to support the Fassel Lectures in Analytical Chemistry, held annually at ISU, may be sent to the Velmer Fassel Lecture Fund, Iowa State University Foundation, 2229 West Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50014 USA. R. S. Houk
Velmer Arthur Fassel died of cardiac arrest on March 4. His scientific career was devoted to basic and applied studies of important, difficult problems in analytical spectroscopy. He was particularly wellknown for his pioneering work on inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy. Fassel also made key contributions in arc and flame spectroscopy (particularly in the determination of the rare earth elements), in the determination of gases in metals, in the 1998 EAS award interpretation of IR spectra, and in fluorescence spectroscopy of polycyclic aromatic winners hydrocarbons frozen in Shpol'skii matrices. The 1998 winners of the Eastern Analytical Fassel received a B.A. in chemistry Symposium (EAS) awards are Franklin E. from Southeast Missouri State College in Barton, II, of the U.S. Department of Agri1941. He enrolled in graduate school at culture (USDA); Edmund R Malinowski of Iowa State College (ISC, later Iowa State the Stevens Institute of Technology; WilUniversity) and was soon recruited for liam H. Pirkle of the University of Illinois; Project 1050—the production of uranium Michael F. Summers of the University of metal for the Manhattan Project in World Maryland-Baltimore County; and Edward War II—where he developed methodoloS. Yeung of Iowa State University. The gies to identify and determine trace eleawards will be presented at EAS '98 in the mental impurities in uranium, a difficult fall in Somerset, NJ. measurement that remains a challenge. After the war Fassel received a Ph.D. in Barton, supervisory research chemist at physical chemistry from ISC in 1947. In the Agricultural Re1949 he assumed a faculty position at ISC search Service, and was named a group leader at what beUSDA, will receive came the Ames Laboratory of the U.S. Dethe Award for partment of Energy. (From 1969 to 1983 he Achievements in was deputy director at Ames Laboratory). Near-Infrared SpecHis advance through the academic ranks troscopy, sponsored culminated in being named Distinguished by Foss NIRSysProfessor in 1976. tems. The award recognizes individuals Fassel was keenly interested in the pro- who have made a significant contribution to the development and implementation of fessional and personal development of his near-IR as a process analytical technique. students and co-workers. He believed that 13 research served two main purposes: to pro- Barton's research has focused on C NMR, 2-D vibrational spectroscopy, and vide a significant scientific advance and to near-IR methods. educate those doing the work. He identified long-term needs in analytical spectroscopy and designed his research program to Malinowsk,, who retired with emeritus address those requirements. Fassel's work status from the has stood the test of time—much of it is Stevens Institute of still in widespread use without major conTechnology, will ceptual changes. receive the Award for Achievement in Fassel supervised the research of 40 Chemometrics, Ph.D. and 21 M.S. students, as well as sponsored by Galacmany professional scientists. He published tic Industries. Al227 research papers and lectured on his
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, May 1, 1998
