Professor Peter W. Carr: The 2010 Martin Gold Medal Winner

Professor Peter W. Carr of the University of Minnesota, USA has been awarded the 2010 Chromatographic Society Martin Medal for his outstanding scientific contribution and promotion of separation science. His work on the fundamental theory of HPLC, stationary phase development and more recently his work in the areas of ultra-fast and two-dimensional chromatography has, and continues to be, pivotal in furthering our understanding of separation science.

Peter Carr received his B.S. in Chemistry (1965) from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn where he worked with Professor Louis Meites, and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at Pennsylvania State University (1969) under the guidance of Professor Joseph Jordan. Following appointments at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stanford University Medical School and the University of Georgia (Athens), in 1977, Dr. Carr joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota where he became Professor of Chemistry in 1981.

He has been a consultant to Leeds and Northrup Co., Hewlett-Packard and the 3M Company, and was the founder and first President of ZirChrom Separations Inc. In 1986, he became an Associate Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Biological Process Technology at the University of Minnesota. He has been President of the Symposium on Analytical Chemistry in the Environment (1976), founder and first President of the Minnesota Chromatography Forum, and Chairman of the Subdivision of Chromatography and Separation Science of the Analytical Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society (1988-1989). Prof. Carr has served on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Analytical Chemistry, Talanta, The Microchemical Journal, LC/GC, Journal of Chromatography, Chromatographia and SeparationScience and Technology.

Professor Carr has received numerous accolades throughout his distinguished career. He has received the Leroy Sheldon Palmer Award of the Minnesota Chromatography Forum and the Merit Award of the Chicago Chromatography Discussion Group. He has also been the recipient of the Benedetti-Pichler Award from the American Microchemical Society in 1990, the Eastern Analytical Symposium, Inc. Award in Separation Science in 1993, the Stephen Dal Nogare Award of the Delaware Chromatography Forum in 1996, the 1996 ACS Award in Chromatography, the ISCO Award in 1997 and the Award in Separation Science of the Eastern Analytical Symposium in 2000. He was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, University of Minnesota in 2002. He was awarded the Pittsburgh Conference Award in Analytical Chemistry in 2004. Most recently he has received the 2010 Csaba Horvath Medal Award to sit alongside The Chromatographic Society 2010 Martin medal.

Professor Carr and his fifty former graduate students and postdoctoral associates have published over 340 papers in a variety of areas of Analytical Chemistry, including electrochemistry, ion selective electrodes, thermochemistry, and chromatography. He holds fourteen U.S. patents in the areas related to chemical analysis and chromatography. Most recently, his research interests have been focused on understanding the nature of solute-solvent interactions as they pertain to the prediction of retention, selectivity and optimization in chromatography. Additional areas of study include affinity chromatography, the theory of nonlinear chromatography, and the development of zirconia-based chemically stable supports for high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) ands most recently ultra-fast and two dimensional HPLC.

It is anticipated that Professor Carr will be presented with the Martin Medal in June at HPLC 2010 in Boston, USA.