2004 Monie A. Ferst Award
Analytical chemist Gary M. Hieftje currently holds the Robert and Marjorie Mann Chair in Chemistry at Indiana University, Bloomington. His many contributions include the training of excellent students, the production of texts and scholarly books, the performance of fundamental research and the development of new techniques and instrumentation. These activities have yielded more than 450 publications, 10 books, many text chapters and a number of patents. More than 100 postdoctoral associates and graduate students have trained under his direction. Hieftje is perhaps best recognized for his work in chemical instrumentation and atomic spectrometry. His group has long been active in the study of events that lead to atom formation, excitation and ionization in flames and high-frequency plasmas and in the development of new kinds of plasma sources, sample-introduction devices, and both optical and mass spectrometers. He is widely known for his invention of a method for background correction in atomic-absorption spectrometry and for the coupling of time-of-flight mass spectrometry to atomic ion sources. His many honors include the American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry and both awards offered by the sponsoring organizations of the Pittsburgh Conference: the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award (1986) and the Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award (2001). Hieftje was chosen as the 2000 Speaker of the Year by Indiana Academy of Science and was the recipient of the 2004-05 Distinguished Faculty Research Lecturer Award. He is a graduate of Hope College, with a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.