Laser Ablation Specialist Wins European Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry 2009

The winner of the fourth European Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry is Dr. Annemie Bogaerts, professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, as announced by the independent award panel. The "Plasma Prize," donated by Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A), is awarded every two years to promote analytical plasma spectrochemical developments and applications in Europe. The prize is awarded for either a single outstanding piece of work or for continued important contributions in this field.

This year's prize recognizes Dr. Bogaerts' work on modeling the mechanisms of laser ablation of solid samples followed by analysis by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry or optical emission spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS and LA-ICP-OES). These working models for understanding complex processes are proving highly useful to fellow researchers.

"I feel very honored to receive this award, especially considering the list of previous winners," Dr. Bogaerts said. "We've been developing computer models for analytical plasmas and laser ablation for quite a few years, to assist experimental developments and improve analytical applications. I consider this award as recognition of the analytical community for our work."

"We're pleased to support the efforts of creative scientists like Dr. Bogaerts, who are demonstrating to the world just how powerful this technology can be," said Don Potter, Agilent global marketing manager, ICP-MS, in announcing the award.

Dr. Bogaerts will receive the award at the European Winter Plasma Conference on Feb. 15, 2009, in Graz, Austria, where she'll also be invited to present a lecture. The prize consists of EUR 5000 cash and an expense-paid trip to Japan to attend a scientific event or seminar. Dr. Bogaerts will also be invited to present a lecture there. Travel expenses to the European Winter Plasma Conference are included in the prize.

Previous winners of the European Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry include Prof. Dr. Detlef Guenter of ETH Zurich, Prof. Jean-Michel Mermet of University Lyon, and Prof. Dr. Ing. Klaus Gustav Heumann of Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz (retired). Winners must be a European national or must have performed the work in Europe.

The independent award panel changes every two years, featuring the current and previous Winter Plasma Conference organizers, two previous award winners, and an Agilent R&D representative. The 2009 award panel consisted of Prof. Kevin Francesconi, Dr. Maria Betti, Prof. Jean-Michel Mermet, Prof. Dr. Klaus Heumann and Dr. Kenichi Sakata of Agilent.

Source: Agilent Technologies