Paul Farnsworth, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Brigham Young University, received the Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Applied Spectrometry. The award was formally presented at the 2009 Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies last month.
Farnsworth received the award primarily in recognition of his 12 years as editor of Applied Spectroscopy, a journal published by the SAS. In addition to serving as the journal’s editor since 1997, he has also sat on several national committees and chaired the local intermountain section of the society.
He began his research career studying energy transport and excitation mechanisms in inductively coupled plasmas used as emission sources. In recent years, he has evolved into a mass spectrometrist. His work on ion transport in ICP-MS has been recognized twice with the Spectrochmica Acta Atomic Spectroscopy Award in 1998 and 2006. He also received the Lester W. Strock Award from the SAS and the Utah Award from the American Chemical Society in 2006.
Farnsworth received his bachelor’s degree from BYU and his doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin prior to conducting his post-doctoral research with Gary Hieftje at Indiana University.
The Society for Applied Spectrometry is a nonprofit organization formed to advance and disseminate knowledge and information concerning the art and science of spectroscopy. Since its inception in 1958, SAS has remained committed to education and providing quality benefits to its 2,000 members.
For more information, contact Lynn Patten at 801-422-4022 or lynn_patten@byu.edu.
Writer: Ricardo Castro
