JAAS News

Today we interview Alexander Gundlach-Graham, a graduate student who is finishing his PhD at the Laboratory for Spectrochemistry, in Indiana University, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Gary M. Hieftje

Alexander in his lab in Bloomington, Indiana

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

I’ve always been curious about the natural world and about how things work. I trace my curiosity about the outdoors to hiking and camping trips I took growing up with my family and scouts. I never really made a decision to study chemistry; I took general chemistry my freshman year of college and then just kept taking chemistry classes because I enjoyed them so much. The most influential course I took in college was Instrumental Analysis. In this course, we both used instruments and, as a class, built an instrument to study kinetics reactions through a fast-flow mixing tube.

Why did you choose your research group/university and what factors influenced your choice?

I joined the Hieftje group at Indiana University because I wanted to build scientific instruments. The black-box approach to chemistry has never worked for me: I’m too fascinated by “how” measurements are made. I came to IU to learn about everything that goes into building a scientific instrument, from theory, design, and construction to operation and first results. In this regard, IU (and the Hieftje group) has been a fantastic place to learn about instrument development. Also, Bloomington, Indiana is a wonderful place to live.

What do you like about where you live?

My favorite part of Bloomington is definitely the Farmer’s Market. Abi and I go every Saturday during the summer to stock up on fresh vegetables for the week.

Can you explain a bit the purpose of your current research activities?

My PhD research has been to develop and characterize the first Distance-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (DOFMS). Prof. Chris Enke from the University of New Mexico invented the concept of DOFMS in the late 2000s, and I’ve applied his theory with a real instrument. I think the research we’re doing on DOFMS in the Hieftje lab is beginning to solidify DOFMS as an analytical MS technique. To date, we’ve built two DOFMS instruments and combined DOFMS with glow-discharge and inductively coupled plasma ionization sources. More combinations of DOFMS with alternative ionization sources and applications of DOFMS are certainly on the way!

How is a typical day in your lab?

I don’t really have a “typical day” in the lab. The only real routine I have is that several members of the group and Prof. Hieftje often gather for coffee in the mornings to socialize and talk about our research problems, questions, and ideas. I typically spend the rest of day working mostly independently. Depending on the day, I will be taking measurements; analyzing data; designing, building, or changing components for the DOFMS; or reading and writing.

What common activities are organized in your research group?

Every day we have make freshly-ground French pressed coffee in the morning; for some reason we are quite particular about our coffee. Otherwise, we have two main group events during the year: in the summer we rent a pontoon boat and troll around a local lake for a day, and in December there is a holiday party. We also often have group dinners when visiting scientists prepare to leave the group and have celebration dinners when a group member receives his or her degree.

What apps/programs do you typically use?

I think I use programs typical to analytical chemists. I use Origin to plot data, Endnote to organize my citations, and Microsoft Office programs to make presentations and write manuscripts. I also do a lot of work with LabVIEW to remotely control the instrument and to analyze data. I use SimION for simulating new designs for the DOFMS.

How do you search for scientific information? How do you manage your bibliography?

I follow journals with an RSS reader. My preferred reader is Google Reader—I only get to use that for 1 more month L. When I know what article I’m looking for, I use Google Scholar to find PDFs of the article, and when I want to search by author, I typically use Web of Science. I use Endnote to keep my bibliography organized. My current system is to read and annotate articles using GoodNotes on my iPad, and then save the PDF to my EndNote library, so that the article, my notes, and the citation are all together.

What are your views on JAAS? Which type of articles do you prefer? Do you miss some content?

JAAS is one of the journals that I always look through. I enjoy the research and perspective articles especially. As an author, I like the flexibility of JAAS because there are no figure and page limits. When journals are too strict about figure limits, I think that important pieces of the story can get buried in supplementary material sections.

What do you like and dislike the most about your work?

My favorite part of research is problem solving. I also have a lot of freedom to develop new ideas. At IU, we have a student machine shop that I can use to make my own parts for the instrument: sometimes I can design, construct, install, and test a new component for the DOFMS in a day or two. This flexibility really allows us to be creative. In my graduate career, I’ve also been lucky to get to travel around the world to meet with other scientists and share my own results. Just like everyone else, I don’t like it when my instrument stops working. A day or two spent in search of ions because of a missed electrical connection can be very frustrating.

What have you taught? What have your teaching experiences been like? What have you learned from teaching?

At IU, I’ve taught general chemistry and bio-analytical chemistry labs, as well as several semesters of our graduate-level electronics course. I’ve very much enjoyed teaching at IU; I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that a teacher needs to both deliver material clearly and be patient.

What do you expect to be doing in five years’ time?

In fives years, I hope to be an assistant professor at a liberal arts college in the United States. I’d like my career to balance teaching and research, with perhaps more emphasis on teaching.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not in the lab?

I like to spend time with my wife Abi, go on walks around town, go to the gym, and cook. My favorite hobby is bread baking: recently I’ve been experimenting with wild-yeast sourdough breads.

Many thanks for sharing your views with us, Alex, and all the best for your post-doc position!

We continue this section by interviewing Morgana B. Dessuy, a very young, just appointed Professor at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil. Morgana works at the Laboratory of Trace Analysis, coordinated by Prof. Dr. María G.R. Vale.

Morgana Dessuy in her lab in Porto Alegre

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

At school I was always interested in Sciences. During high school, I decided to study Chemistry, after having read some articles about the role of a chemist in society.

Why did you choose your research group/University and what factors influenced your choice?

During my graduation, at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, I was given the chance to work with different analytical techniques. At the end of my degree I decided to work with Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS), which led me to do my TCC, which is a first supervised research work to conclude the graduation course, at the Laboratory of Trace Analysis at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), coordinated by Prof. Maria Goreti R. Vale. This TCC work increased my interest in this technique even more; consequently I decided to take my Master and Doctorate in this area. Considering the fact that the Laboratory of Trace Analysis offers an adequate infrastructure for the development of my research, and that UFRGS is one of the best universities of Brazil, I chose to follow my studies there under the supervision and orientation Prof. Maria Goreti. During my PhD work I also had the opportunity to spend one year at the Institute of Analytical Chemistry of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic in Prague under the supervision of Dr. Jiři Dědina in the frame of a sandwich program. This gave me the opportunity to work with other techniques, to know new people and a different culture, which contributed very much to increase my horizon, scientifically and personally.

Can you explain a bit the purpose of your current research activities?

My current research is based on the application of the AAS technique for the development of analytical methods. I am currently working on the development of analytical methods for the quantification of non-metals using High-resolution Continuum Source Graphite Furnace Molecular Absorption Spectrometry (HR-CS GF MAS). Besides this project, I have been developing another study related to the leaching of metals and metalloids from different food containers, particularly from pewter cups produced in Brazil.

How is a typical day in your lab?

I am not able to stay for a long time in the laboratory to make measurements, due to my recent activities as a Professor. Having to divide my time among giving classes, research and doing the paperwork, what I usually do is to plan the experiments and discuss the results with the students in the lab early in the morning and at the end of the afternoon when I finish my classes.

What common activities are organized in your research group?

Eventually we gather to make a barbecue or a happy hour to celebrate birthdays, presentation of final papers or the approval of a scientific project.

How do you search for scientific information? How do you manage your bibliography?

To make the bibliographic review I make use of the Web of Science. In addition, I usually access the websites of the main Journals in the field, to follow what is being published, and I save in folders, ordered by subject, those articles that I find relevant.

What are your views on JAAS? Which type of articles do you prefer? Do you miss some content?

JAAS is one of the most important Journals in the field of Atomic Spectrometry, being a reference for me since the beginning of my graduation. Nowadays, I wish there were more articles about sample preparation, as well as method development and applications involving AAS techniques, mainly using high-resolution continuum source AAS and high resolution continuum source molecular absorption spectrometry.

What do you like and dislike the most about your work?

I really like my work and I feel honored for being able to provide classes and carry out research activities simultaneously. I am happy with what I do. I do not really like the administrative paperwork, which is automatically inserted in my duties. Having to administrate money for my research and face bureaucracy and delay for the purchase of material/reagents is really annoying.

What do you expect to be doing in 5 years time?

I have recently reached a position, which I have aimed for a long time: the one of being a Professor at UFRGS. In five years time I hope to have acquired the potential to widen the structure of the Laboratory of Trace Analysis and to be satisfied with the research developed during this time. Besides that, I hope to contribute to the formation of graduate and post-graduate students.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not in the lab?

I really like going out with my friends or going to a park on the weekends. I also like reading a lot of books of general literature.

Thanks for sharing your views with us, Morgana, and congratulations on your recent position!