News from Pittcon: University of Alberta professor receives Spectroscopy Award

Orlando, Florida March 11, 2003 Dr Gary Horlick, professor of chemistry at the University of Alberta, today receives the 2003 Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award from the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh.

Having pioneered the application of linear image sensors (photo diode arrays) to atomic spectrochemical measurements, his efforts predate by two decades commercial developments in this area.

Dr Horlick has been involved in the development of new instrumentation for elemental analysis that allows for more rapid and effective simultaneous determination of several elements in a sample. He has also characterized in detail certain elemental analysis techniques (inductively couple plasma-atomic emission spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry), to allow for a clear understanding by users of both the capabilities and limitations of these techniques.

Currently, his research is aimed at developing a new approach for the direct analysis of particulate samples. "The goal is to be able to determine the elemental composition of individual particles in a collection of particles and to be able to correlate the composition of particles thereby distinguishing mixtures of different particles," he says. "Our approach involves the direct introduction of a stream of particles into an inductively coupled plasma with the subsequent high-speed measurement of the individual pulsed emission signals from the particles."