The MagLab’s Alan Marshall Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Posted: April 25, 2013
Contact: Jeffery Seay, Florida State University News and Research Communications
(850) 644-0277; jseay@fsu.edu
Alan Marshall.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Alan G. Marshall, director of the Ion Cyclotron Resonance Program at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, joining 197 other fellows and foreign honorary members in the Class of 2013.
Marshall is world-renowned for his pioneering work in co-inventing and developing Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry, a revolutionary chemical analysis technique that provided a more detailed chemical analysis in a fraction of the time it previously took to perform such work.
“It is indeed humbling to join a fellowship that started with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin and whose current chemist members include several of my own mentors,” said Marshall. “I gratefully acknowledge the contributions of my 150 present and former research group members for their creative and penetrating advances in both instrumental techniques and applications ranging from petroleum to proteins. What keeps us going is the desire to see what's around the next scientific corner.”
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences will formally welcome the Class of 2013 on Oct. 12 during an induction ceremony in Cambridge, Mass. The academy, whose entire membership includes more than 250 Nobel Prize laureates and 60 Pulitzer Prize winners, is composed of accomplished leaders in education, business, public affairs, the humanities and the arts. Founded in 1780, it is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems.
MagLab Director Gregory Boebinger described Marshall as a “first-class scientist and researcher.”
“As a founding researcher at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, it is only appropriate that Dr. Marshall would join the prestigious company of the nation’s founding fathers as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,” Boebinger said. “He is an exceptional scientist known for his groundbreaking advances ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry which have lead to advances in energy and biology research, particularly in the area of petroleum.”
The accolade is just the newest in Marshall’s long list of accomplishments. At Florida State, Marshall holds the titles of Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor, Kasha Professor of Chemistry and Distinguished Research Professor. In addition, he is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In 2012, Marshall received the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award from the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh and the William H. Nichols Medal from the New York Section of the American Chemical Society. Sixteen previous winners of the Nichols medal have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.
In 2009, Marshall was named a member of the American Chemical Society’s first group of fellows, the only person in Florida to receive the distinction, and that same year he received the New Frontiers in Hydrocarbons Award, sponsored by Italian energy company Eni, as well as the Eastern Analytical Symposium Award for Outstanding Achievements in Mass Spectrometry. Before that, among many honors, Marshall received the 2008 Ralph and Helen Oesper Award from the Cincinnati section of the ACS and the 2007 Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists.
Marshall earned a doctorate from Stanford University. Before joining the faculty of Florida State’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1993, Marshall held academic appointments at the University of British Columbia in Canada and The Ohio State University.
Related Links
- Alan Marshall: A Scientist and a Gentleman
Profile of ICR Program Director Alan Marshall, co-inventor of Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance.
- Ion Cyclotron Resonance (ICR) Program
The MagLab's ICR program develops and exploits the unique capabilities of FT-ICR mass spectrometry. The program leads the world in instrument and technique development as well as pursuing novel applications of FT-ICR mass spectrometry.
- What’s in an Oil Drop: An Intro to FT-ICR
It may look like a simple black blob, but an oil drop is in fact a phenomenally complex mix of immense (relatively speaking) molecules called hydrocarbons. Using a type of mass spectrometry called FT-ICR (in which the MagLab is a world leader), scientists can analyze oil and other macromolecules with amazing precision, uncovering important secrets in the process.
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory develops and operates state-of-the-art, high-magnetic-field facilities that faculty and visiting scientists and engineers use for research. The laboratory is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the state of Florida. To learn more visit www.magnet.fsu.edu.
