Chase and Rabolt to Receive 2013 MRS Innovation in Materials Characterization Award

WARRENDALE, PA - The Materials Research Society’s (MRS) Innovation in Materials Characterization Award honors outstanding advance in materials characterization that notably increases knowledge of the structure, composition, in situ behavior under outside stimulus, electronic behavior, or other characterization feature, of materials. This year's award will be presented to D. Bruce Chase and John F. Rabolt, University of Delaware, "for development of Fourier Transform Raman Spectroscopy and the demonstration of its utility for examining the chemical structure and properties of organic molecules and polymers in solids, thin films, and solutions." They will be presented with their awards during the 2013 MRS Spring Meeting Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, April 3, 2013, at 6:30 p.m., in the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

At the University of Delaware, where Rabolt founded the Materials Science and Engineering Department, Chase and Rabolt collaborate on a number of projects related to the spectroscopic analysis of polymers, including recent work to develop methods for the rapid acquisition of spectra for such applications as in-line analysis during manufacturing processes using focal plane arrays, giving rise to a new technique called planar array infrared spectroscopy (PA-IR). This approach is the basis for the University’s spin-off company, PAIR Technologies LLC. The PA-IR instrument enables ultra-rapid (<100 µs) detailed detection and chemical analyses of polymers, chemical toxins and biological pathogens.

About D. Bruce Chase

Chase received his B.A. from Williams College and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Princeton University. He joined E.I. DuPont de Nemours as a research chemist in the Spectroscopy Division of the Central Research Department. Chase retired from DuPont as a fellow and chair of the DuPont Fellows Forum. He is now a research professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Delaware and the chief technical officer of Pair Technologies LLC. Chase has received many awards, including the Williams-Wright Award, SSP Award, Bomem-Michelson Award, ACS Analytical Division Award in Spectrochemical Analysis, Anachem Award, EAS Award for Analytical Chemistry, Hasler Award, EAS New York Section Gold Medal, and is co-winner of the 1994 Bunsen-Kirchhoff Prize.

Chase will present his talk, FT-Raman Spectroscopy: A Catalyst for Raman Scattering, on Thursday, April 4, 2013, at 12:05 p.m. in the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

Photo of Chase available upon request at [email protected].

About John F. Rabolt

Rabolt was a research staff member at the IBM Almaden Research Center where he served as co-director of the NSF Center on Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular Assemblies. He is currently the Karl W. and Renate Boer Professor and Founding-Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Delaware, where he also holds a position as professor of biomedical engineering. Rabolt has received many awards, including the New York Society of Applied Spectroscopy’s Gold Medal, Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award, Bomem-Michelson Award in Molecular Spectroscopy, Ellis Lippincott Award in Vibrational Spectroscopy, Louis A. Strait Award in Applied Spectroscopy, Williams-Wright Award in Molecular Spectroscopy and Coblentz Award. Rabolt has served as chair of three Gordon Conferences and is a member of the Gordon Research Conference’s Scheduling and Selection Committee. He has also served as an associate editor of the American Chemical Society Journal Macromolecules. Rabolt was a recent member of NASA’s Microgravity Materials Science Advisory Committee and is a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Rabolt will present his talk, Innovations in Spectroscopic Instrumentation-Evolution, Revolution or Back to the Future?, on Thursday, April 4, 2013, at 12:45 p.m. in the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.