Author Archive

In memory of Bernhard Welz

Bernhard Welz (photo by Jorg Feldmann)

I am very saddened to report that last Saturday (June 2), Dr. Bernhard Welz passed away, after severe complications, as consequence of a car accident. Bernhard was cremated last Sunday in Florianópolis (Brazil), the city in which he chose to live for the last 20 years.

Born in Augsburg (Germany), Bernhard was without any doubt one of the driving figures in the development of atomic absorption. As a young doctor, he started doing research in what was then a very new field, when he joined Perkin Elmer in 1967. After more than 30 years working for such company, Bernhard, instead of opting for a peaceful retirement, decided to adventure overseas and became Visiting Professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, in Florianópolis. And so Bernhard became Bernardo, and started a new life, meeting his wife and co-worker, Maria. His presence and example invigorated atomic spectrometry in Brazil, to the point that it is one of the leading countries in the field now.

Bernhard was tireless and very active until the very end, traveling to conferences all over the world, and presenting his unique work. It is hard to resume his contribution to the field or overestimate his enormous impact. His work for the last 20 years focused on the development of high-resolution continuum source AAS/MAS, but that is only one of his many achievements. His “Bible” on Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, wrote together with M. Sperling in the last edition, still is the reference book in the field. And let’s not forget that he started organizing several successful conferences, such as the Rio Symposium on Atomic Spectrometry, or the German CANAS.

I remember reading his papers (his series on the use of palladium and magnesium nitrate as a universal modifier is certainly noteworthy) as a young Ph.D. student, meeting him as a young post-doc, and becoming his colleague and friend later on, as a not so young scientist. Bernhard was a true giant, and it was a privilege to share time with him, both personally and scientifically. He will be sorely missed, but his legacy certainly remains. A life well-lived, Bernardo. Rest in peace and many thanks!

Martín Resano
Chair of the JAAS Editorial Board

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JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2018 recipient

Marcia Mesko

Marcia Foster Mesko

We are delighted to announce Márcia Foster Mesko as the recipient of the JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2018. This Lectureship aims to recognise and support an emerging scientist working in the area of atomic spectrometry in the early stages of their independent career.

Introducing Márcia Foster Mesko, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil:

Márcia Foster Mesko was born in Canguçu city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. She concluded her PhD in Chemistry at Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil, in 2008, and has been an Associate Professor at Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), Brazil, since 2009. Currently, she is the Deputy Director of the Analytical Chemistry Division of the Brazilian Chemical Society, Coordinator of the Chemistry Committee at the Foundation for Supporting Research of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (FAPERGS), and also Coordinator of the Biochemistry and Bioprospecting Postgraduate Program at UFPel. She has supervised 10 master and 2 PhD students, has presented at several conferences in national and international scientific meetings and has received more than 15 national and international awards, including the L’Oreal Brazil (Young Woman in Science, Brazilian Academy of Science, UNESCO). She has published 80 peer-reviewed international papers, 15 national and international book chapters and 4 patents of innovation. She has experience in analytical chemistry for the development of methods for atomic spectrometry, sample preparation, food and environmental analysis, speciation analysis, and quality control of pharmaceutical and other industrial products.

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JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2018 Winner announced

JAAS cover imageWe are delighted to announce the winner of the 2018 JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship. This Lectureship was launched to recognise and support an emerging scientist working in the area of atomic spectrometry in the early stages of their independent career and we received many exceptional and highly deserving nominations this year.

Congratulations to Márcia Mesko, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil!

Lectureship award details

As a winner of the lectureship, Márcia will be able to present her research at a relevant high-profile international meeting and receive a contribution of £2000 to cover associated travel and accommodation costs. She will be awarded a certificate and invited to contribute a paper to JAAS.

You can read more about the selection process in the call for nominations post.

We will be posting more information about our winner soon!

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In memory of Edward Steers

Professor Edward Steers

Professor Edward Steers

We are saddened to report that Professor Edward Steers of the London Metropolitan University has passed away. Edward was a major figure in glow discharge spectrometry and he was widely respected and admired for his keen scientific insight and encyclopaedic knowledge, and he was universally loved as a genuine and wonderful individual.

While this is indeed sad news, let us remember that Edward reached a fine age and worked for over 60 years on a topic that he loved. And he inspired many young researchers to concentrate on the field of Glow Discharge. He will be missed. – Pete Robinson.

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JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship recipient

We are delighted to announce Sohail Mushtaq as the recipent of the 2016 JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship. This Lectureship was launched to recognise and support an emerging scientist working in the area of atomic spectrometry in the early stages of their independent career.

Sohail Mushtaq

Sohail Mushtaq

Introducing Sohail Mushtaq, London Metropolitan University:

Sohail Mushtaq received his M.Sc degree in 2005 and his M.Phil in 2007, both from the Government College University Lahore (GCUL), Pakistan. During his M.Phil research project, he was awarded a scholarship by the ICSC-World Laboratory and also appointed as M.Phil Research Fellow at Salam Chair, Physics Department, GCUL. After his M.Phil degree he was selected as the Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher at Imperial College London to work with Prof. J. C. Pickering in the EC Research Training Network on Analytical Glow Discharges (GLADNET). After his PhD in 2011 at Imperial College on the effects of small amounts of molecular gases in analytical glow discharges, he took up a postdoctoral position with Prof. Edward Steers at London Metropolitan University. He has extensive experience of using the Imperial Fourier Transform spectrometer and glow discharge sources, and has carried out experimental work at EAG (Syracuse, USA), EMPA (Thun, Switzerland), BAM (Berlin) and IFW Dresden (Germany). He has made a significant impact in the field with 17 publications; including three papers with work featured on the front cover of JAAS and is internationally known for his work on molecular gases in glow discharges. He was awarded the Payling prize for the best contribution by a young scientist at the 2nd IGDSS (Internl. GDS Symposium), Prague. His main research interest is in the fundamental processes in glow discharges and their dependence on the plasma constituents.

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JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2016 Winner announced

We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2016 JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship. This Lectureship was launched to recognise and support an emerging scientist working in the area of atomic spectrometry in the early stages of their independent career and we received many exceptional and highly deserving nominations this year.

Congralutaions to Sohail Mushtaq, London Metropolitan University!

Lectureship award details

As a winner of the lectureship, Sohail will be able to present his research at a relevant high-profile international meeting and receive a contribution of up to £2000 each to cover associated travel and accommodation costs. He will be awarded a certificate and invited to contribute a paper to JAAS.

You can read more about eligibility and the selection process in the call for nominations post.

We will be posting more information about our winner soon!

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Will you be at LIBS 2016?

Will you be at LIBS 2016 on Sept 12-14 in Chamonix, France?

The 9th International Conference on Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) will be held in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France this September.  If you are attending the meeting, why not find me and have a chat about JAAS, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and publishing in general, and let me explain why our journals are the best home for your research.

Rebecca Brodie Rebecca Brodie, Deputy Editor, JAAS.

Please feel free to get in touch with me before the conference to arrange a meeting.

I look forward to meeting you in Chamonix!

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LIBS 2016 – deadline approaching

Graphical Abstract


The 9th International Conference on Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy will be held at the Centre de Congres in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc between 12-16 September 2016

“From laser plasmas to analyses” will be the guiding thread of the conference, because between the science and the technology, there is knowledge to be elaborated and expertise to be shared!’

Dates for your diary:

25th July 2016: Early registration fee payment deadline

What to expect on the day:

Five different forms of presentation
Plenary lectures
Invited talks including a snapshot of the LIBS technique by the most active and representative LIBS R&D teams
Oral presentations
Vendor session talks
Poster presentations

For more information about the lectures and for details on specific topics please see the conference program

SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT NOW

For more information about the conference please see their website

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Extended deadline for JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship

In order to ensure we receive as many high quality nominations as we can, we have extended the deadline for nominations for the JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship to 1st July 2016.

Lectureship details

The recipient of the lectureship will present their research at a relevant high-profile international meeting and receive a contribution of up to £2000 to cover associated travel and accommodation costs. They will be awarded a certificate and asked to contribute a Perspective or Research Article to JAAS.

Eligibility

The lectureship is open worldwide to researchers working in atomic spectrometry within the scope of JAAS who are at an early stage of their independent career. The nominee has to be under ten years from gaining their PhD and those who hold a senior permanent position are not eligible for the award.

Nominations

Nominations must be received by the Editorial Office by 1st July 2016; researchers cannot nominate themselves and members of the Editorial Board judging panel are not eligible to receive the lectureship.

Nominations must include:

A letter of recommendation, including achievements and evidence of research independence of the nominee

A brief biography of the nominee, including a summary of education and career

A list of relevant publications, highlighting those of particular significance as judged by the nominator

Selection

The lectureship winner will be selected by the JAAS Editorial Board based on the originality, quality, impact and significance of the candidate’s research, as highlighted in their nomination.

Submit a nomination

To make a nomination please send the Editorial Office a letter of recommendation, nominee biography and publication list no later than 1st July 2016.

JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship Nomination

You can read about last year’s inaugural winners here.

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EWLA 2016 themed issue with JAAS

As with previous EWLA conferences in the past, JAAS is proud to be publishing a themed issue on laser ablation to feature papers from the conference and to highlight the latest advances in laser-based microanalytical techniques.

The deadline for submission is 30 September 2016.

  • Submitted papers can be based on oral or poster presentations given at the meeting
  • There will be no upper limit to the number of papers an author can submit
  • All submissions will be subject to initial assessment and peer review in the usual manner and must meet the usual standards and requirements for the journal
  • This themed issue is scheduled to be published in early 2017

You can submit your article using the JAAS portal

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