Curtis Marcott Receives 2023 EAS Gold Medal Award

Curtis Marcott, a senior partner at Light Light Solutions, a spectroscopic consulting firm based in Athens, Georgia, has been named the winner of the NY/NJ Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy Gold Medal Award. This award was established in 1952 to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of applied spectroscopy. The Gold Medal was presented at a special award symposium, arranged in honor of the awardee, at the 2023 Eastern Analytical Symposium on Tuesday, November 14, at 1:30 pm.

Marcott received a bachelor’s degree in math and chemistry at Concordia College and his PhD from University of Minnesota. Following his PhD, he joined Procter & Gamble where he worked for more than 28 years in the optical spectroscopy laboratory and was named research fellow in 1997.

He joined Light Light Solutions LLC in 2008, contributing to several innovative developments in vibrational spectroscopy: vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), near-IR measurements of interfacial phase boundaries, 2D correlation spectroscopy, publication of the first polarization modulation grazing angle Fourier transformation-infrared (FT-IR) measurements of monolayers on metals, and the first FT-IR spectroscopic imaging measurements using a focal plane array (FPA). He also played key roles in the commercialization of sub-diffraction IR spectroscopy using photothermal infrared (PTIR), including AFM-PTIR, optical PTIR (O-PTIR), and the simultaneous measurement of O-PTIR and Raman spectra.

Marcott has authored and co-authored more than 150 publications, given more than 650 presentations at national and international meetings. He is a past president of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy and has served on numerous conference-organizing committees and journal editorial advisory boards. He received the 1993 Williams-Wright Award from the Coblentz Society for achievement in industrial vibrational spectroscopy and was named the 2001 Cincinnati Chemist of the Year.

Marcott was previously visiting assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Utah, adjunct professor of chemistry at Miami University, and is currently affiliated professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Delaware.

The program for the award ceremony is as follows:

• “Industrial Spectroscopy Research Leading to the Development of Novel Bioplastics,” presented by Isao Noda of the University of Delaware, beginning at 1:30 pm.
• “Super-Resolution Photothermal Infrared Spectroscopy for Science and Industry,” presented by Craig Prater of Photothermal Spectroscopy Corporation, beginning at 2 pm.
• After a 2:30pm break, “Multimodal Infrared Nanospectroscopy in the Bio- and Materials Sciences,” presented by Simone Ruggeri of Wageningen University, beginning at 3 pm.
• The symposium concludes with “Chemically Characterizing the Microstructure of Novel Bioplastics Using Photothermal Infrared Spectroscopy,” presented by James Grinias and his team at Rowan University (Glassboro, NJ), beginning at 3:30 pm.