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Expert has taught courses and performed investigations in many areas of analytical chemistry including analytical spectroscopy, qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, computer programming methods, algorithm developments and instrument developments. The primary goal of his research is to develop practical analytical instrumentation and methodologies for both laboratory and field uses.

The expert and his research group have focused on applications of all areas of optical spectroscopy to a broad range of environmental, medical, pharmaceutical and bio-terrorism problems. Environmental problems have included water and air pollution, oil spills and corrosion. Medical applications have been concerned with in vivo and in vitro monitoring of glucose, cholesterol, blood oxygen and plaque in addition to studying spectral images of skin, bone and brain tissue. Pharmaceutical research has been directed towards polymorphic crystals, mixing, dissolution, and tablet specifications. Spectra of several thousand bacteria of many genius/species have been measured and processed in developing rapid methods for identifying pathogenic bacteria that might be encountered in bio-terrorism.

Much of the expert’s research has been in the use of vibrational spectra to solve real world problems. The focus has been on both the mid- and near-infrared regions, since certain problems are more adaptable to one region than the other. Polymorphic crystals, liquid crystals, oil spills, corrosion, blood chemicals, and air pollutants have been investigated in the mid-infrared region and with Raman spectra. Near-infrared spectra have been used to study cervical cancer cells, gases, natural gas, and aqueous solutions of salts, temperature dependence of water, fabric dyes and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Fourier transform spectrometers are used both for mid- and near-infrared measurements.

Expert and his students built one of the first miniature spectrometers for the near-infrared region and used the instrument for on-line monitoring of the composition and BTU content of natural gas. This research entailed measuring spectra of pure components of natural gas both on a high-resolution instrument and developing a calibration method for modeling the predictive performance of a low-resolution, miniature spectrometer. In conjunction with this research project, the first near-infrared gas-phase library was developed.

Two practical problems were the objects of investigations in the ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) spectral region. The first involved developing the computer technology for monitoring dissolution of active ingredients in pharmaceutical tablets. Initially, a sipper type system was used to extract samples into cuvettes from a Hanson dissolution (six-bath) system under computer control; the software was developed to control the system and to predict the concentrations of the active ingredients. Later, the sipper system was replaced with a multiplexing, six fiber optic system, which made it possible to monitor the concentrations in real times. The other major investigation in the ultraviolet region was to develop the computer methodology for identifying chemicals and specifically biochemicals from their UV spectra, since UV detect is of utmost importance for HPLC detection.



In the area of computerization and chemometrics, the expert was on the ground flood of interfacing analytical instruments to computers during the 1970s. The work on interfacing instruments led to some of the first digitized spectral data for chemical analysis. The interfacing efforts were closely followed by simultaneous work on algorithms for process the spectra data using statistical analysis or what is now known as chemometrics. Algorithms included developing methodologies for clustering and matching spectra for qualitative analysis; and K-matrix, P-matrix, multivariate, Principal Component Regression (PCR) and Partial Least Squares (PLS) for quantitative analysis. Methodologies also included calibration transfers, Fourier Transform and derivative processing for both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Consulted for Beckman Instruments (now Beckman-Coulter, Fullerton, CA) instrument division from 1977 until 1984 on developing software algorithms for processing spectroscopic data for qualitative and quantitative analysis. He was also involved with the development of a Fourier Transform Infrared SpectrometerConsulted for Beckman Instruments (now Beckman-Coulter, Fullerton, CA) biomedical division from 1987 until 1992 on developing and testing software for quantitative analysis in biological systems.Consulted for Digilab (now Varian Instruments, Cambridge, MA) from 1985 to 1991 on developing and implementing quantitative analysis software.Consulted for Berringer-Manheim (Manheim, Germany) from 1991 to 1994 on spectroscopic methods for measuring blood glucose.Consulted for SensIR Technologies (now Smith's Detection, Danbury, CT) from 2002 to 2008 on spectroscopic methods for identifying bacteria and chemical mixtures.