Society for Applied Spectroscopy Distinguished Service Award

Recognizing members for their long-time service to the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.

James de Haseth received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1972 and his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1977. Jim studied with Thomas L. Isenhour and his main interest of study was computerized information retrieval from spectrometric data. It was in graduate school that Jim became interested in Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry and decided to pursue further studies in vibrational spectrometry. This led to an eighteen-month postdoctoral research position with Gleb Mamantov at the University of Tennessee where Jim studied time-resolved FT-IR spectrometry involving fluorine-based reaction chemistry.
In 1979 Jim accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Alabama. He moved to the University of Georgia in 1983, where he was later promoted to Professor of Chemistry. Research interests have involved numerous projects in vibrational spectrometry, and include gas and liquid chromatographic interfaces as well as capillary electrophoretic interfaces to FT-IR spectrometers, vibrational circular dichoism, protein structure by infrared spectrometry, and the use of infrared fibers for the study of reaction kinetics. Research interests also focused on the design and development of field deployable spectrometers in the ultraviolet through mid-infrared spectral regions.
In 2009 Jim retired from the University of Georgia and co-founded a consulting group, Light Light Solutions, LLC, with three scientists from the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA (Franklin Barton, David Himmelsbach, and Dan Akin) as well as with Curt Marcott from Proctor and Gamble. In 2011 Jim and Franklin Barton spun off an instrument company, LLS Instruments, Inc., to develop a field-portable NIR spectrometer. The unit is designed to measure large areas to provide more accurate analyses of sample components. Commodities measured include living plants, bales, products on conveyor belts, and materials in vehicles, such as trucks, railroad cars,
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and ship holds. Work with the instrument has been in the fiber, rubber, and sugar industries to name a few, in the US, Canada, and Australia.
Jim became a member of SAS in 1978 and has held several positions within the Society. He has been a member of the Coblentz Society since 1980 and was named an Honorary Member in 2011. Since 1974 Jim has been a member of the American Chemical Society and is also a member of the Council on Near Infrared Spectroscopy.
Jim remains active in teaching and is an instructor for IR Courses, Inc. That organization regularly conducts courses for the interpretation of infrared and Raman spectra. Three such courses were taught in 2016 in Texas, the United Kingdom and Maine. In addition, since 1982 Jim has taught numerous vibrational spectroscopy short courses for the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, FACSS, the Pittsburgh Conference, and for several overseas organizations. Jim is co-author with Peter R. Griffiths for the treatise “Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry,” John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1986, and the second edition, 2007.