<h4>Professors named to distinguished top 100 world chemists list</h4>
Three chemists from The University of Texas at Arlington are among the most influential analytical scientists in the world, as selected by a top publication.
<a href="https://theanalyticalscientist.com/">The Analytical Scientist</a> magazine recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its <a href="https://theanalyticalscientist.com/power-list/2023">Power List</a>, which this year includes the leading 100 analytical scientists from around the globe. UTA honorees are:
<ul>
<li>Daniel Armstrong, the R.A. Welch Distinguished Professor in Chemistry;</li>
<li>Purnendu “Sandy” Dasgupta, the Hamish Small Chair in Ion Analysis; and</li>
<li>Kevin Schug, the Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry.</li>
</ul>
Armstrong and Schug were named to the connectors and interdisciplinarians category, while Dasgupta was included in the innovators and trailblazers category.
“This is a tremendous honor for Drs. Dasgupta, Armstrong, and Schug. They are very worthy of being included in this prestigious company,” said College of Science Dean Morteza Khaledi. “Their commitment to making a difference through their groundbreaking research is inspirational.”
Armstrong has more than 35 years of experience in the field of chiral recognition, enantiomeric separations and their biological relevance.
“Having three scientists not only from the same university but also the same department is quite extraordinary and something that is rare,” Armstrong said. “It gives UTA a lot of visibility and enhances graduate student recruiting in this area.”
Dasgupta has made significant contributions to many areas, most importantly to ion chromatography, as well as to arsenic detection, perchlorate detection and dried blood spot analysis.
“While I personally do not believe in a caste system in any discipline, much less my own, my being included among an elite group of people never fails to please one very important group of people. Those are my students, both present and past, and they are really the people who deserve the credit for others to think that we are doing something worthwhile,” Dasgupta said. “So, kudos to them!”
A Fulbright scholar, Schug’s research focuses on the theory and application of separation science and mass spectrometry for solving a variety of analytical and physical chemistry problems in the fields of environmental, pharmaceutical, biological and energy research.
“It is an honor to be recognized together with my esteemed colleagues,” Schug said. “If you want exceptional training as an analytical chemist, there are few places better than UT Arlington.”
To identify the top scientists in the field for the 2023 list, The Analytical Scientist held open nominations and a panel of expert, independent judges narrowed down the candidates to the final 100. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Power List, this year’s edition recognizes scientists whose excellence and impact have stood out over the past decade across four areas: inventors and trailblazers, mentors and educators, leaders and advocates, and connectors and interdisciplinarians.

TRIO OF UTA CHEMISTS RECOGNIZED AS LEADING LIGHTS

A University of Texas at Arlington chemist has been honored for his significant contributions to separation science.
Kevin Schug, the Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry, was named recipient of the 2024 Silver Jubilee Medal by the Chromatography Society, a United Kingdom-based organization with worldwide membership. The Silver Jubilee Medal recognizes up-and-coming researchers who have made major use of separation science in their own field or those who have made important contributions to a particular area of separation science. The award was created in 1982 to celebrate the society’s 25th anniversary.
<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/The_University_Of_Texas_at_Arlington_UTA_chemist_acclaimed_as_up_and_coming_scientist_Schug_9ca45754bb.jpg" alt="The University Of Texas at Arlington: Kevin Schug, the Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry."/>
“I know many prominent separation scientists who have been recognized by this medal in the past. I am humbled and honored to be among them,” Schug said. “I understand that I was selected due to my wide range of use and promotion of gas and liquid separations. I credit a lot of current and past students for their contributions to that effort. I must also acknowledge the critical role that industrial partnerships have played.”
Rasika Dias, professor and chair of the UTA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said Schug is deserving of the accolade.
“In a relatively brief period of time, he has established himself as one of the top separation scientists in the world,” he said.
One area of Schug’s research noted by the society is his work with vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) detection for gas chromatography. The VUV detector is made by a Texas company, VUV Analytics Inc.
“VUV Analytics approached me in 2009 to help evaluate and demonstrate the potential of their technology,” Schug said. “This company has since grown, and the technology has been adapted by many companies, particularly in the petrochemical and pharmaceutical spaces.”
The Chromatography Society noted that Schug’s research is primarily applied to the investigation of water treatment analyses and natural products, but also extends to sustainable and environmental trace analyses. It also remarked on his extensive industrial collaborations and his role as founder of the <a href="https://shimadzuinstitute.org/centers/advanced-analytical-chemistry/">Shimadzu Center for Advanced Analytical Chemistry at UTA</a>.
Schug has been honored with numerous awards, including a <a href="https://www.uta.edu/news/news-releases/2023/07/12/two-uta-professors-selected-as-fulbright-scholars">Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award in 2023</a>; the Calvin Giddings Award for Excellence in Education from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Analytical Chemistry in 2017; Tech Titans Future University Award in 2016; Young Investigator in Separation Science Award, ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry, in 2013; CAREER Award by the National Science Foundation in 2009; and the Young Investigator Award in Analytical Chemistry, Eli Lilly and Company, in 2009.
He has also been named three times to the <a href="https://www.uta.edu/news/news-releases/2023/10/25/trio-of-uta-chemists-recognized-as-leading-lights">Top 100 Power List by The Analytical Scientist</a> (2023, 2021, 2019) and to the magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 Power List in 2014. He received the UT System Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2014 and the UTA College of Science Research Excellence Award in 2010. He was named to the UTA Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 2018.

UTA chemist acclaimed as up-and-coming scientist

Despite consumer efforts to sort and separate recyclables, most plastic bottles still end up in the landfill. Standard recycling methods to sort, shred and remake plastics are limited to just type-1 and type-2 plastics—basically only soda bottles, water bottles and milk jugs.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/The_University_Of_Texas_at_Arlington_UTA_chemist_developing_method_to_recycle_more_plastics_Kevin_Schug_the_Shimadzu_Distinguished_Professor_of_Analytical_Chemistry_at_The_University_of_dc51875b3e.jpg" alt="The University of Texas at Arlington: UTA chemist developing method to recycle more plastics - Kevin Schug, the Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_The_University_Of_Texas_at_Arlington_UTA_chemist_developing_method_to_recycle_more_plastics_Kevin_Schug_the_Shimadzu_Distinguished_Professor_of_Analytical_Chemistry_at_The_University_of_dc51875b3e.jpg 245w," sizes="100vw" width="1000" height="500">Global plastic production has increased from 2 million tons in 1950 to 360 million tons in 2018, and about 50% of that plastic becomes trash after a single use. By 2050, it’s predicted that 12 billion tons of plastic waste will be in the environment and landfills.To improve recycling rates, Kevin Schug, the Shimadzu Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington, is working on new ways to separate and recycle mixed plastics. He and a team of graduate and undergraduate researchers at UTA collaborated on a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021967324001778?via%3Dihub">new peer-reviewed study published in April in Journal of Chromatography A</a>.“A prominent means of chemical recycling is called pyrolysis,” Schug said. “During pyrolysis, plastics are heated in an oxygen-free environment until they decompose into pyrolysis oils. These oils have much of the same characteristics as crude oil, with a few exceptions. Importantly, they can be further refined into fuels and, even better, turned into chemical feedstocks to make new plastics.”Unlike traditional plastic recycling that requires sorting and shredding before the material can be recycled, pyrolysis is not limited to specific plastic types. It can accommodate them all.However, the pyrolysis of mixed plastic waste does create some complex mixtures that manufacturers must examine closely. Contaminants such as sulfur and nitrogen can create chemical compounds that can hurt downstream processing strategies.“Pyrolysis has become quite a big deal. Many companies are ramping up large chemical recycling operations,” Schug said. “Still, the characterization of the pyrolysis oils requires the development of new analytical methods, such as the one we describe in our new peer-reviewed research.”With the support of Jean-Francois Borny from Lummus Technologies LLC, a Houston-based chemical company, Schug and his colleagues at UTA - graduate students Alexander Kaplitz and Niray Bhakta and undergraduate researchers Shane Marshall and Sadid Morshed - created a new <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://lcms.labrulez.com/library?instrumentationItems=38">supercritical fluid chromatography</a> method that can separate the pyrolysis oils. The researchers found they could clearly differentiate oils created from polyethylene versus polypropylene feedstocks.“This is just the beginning, but we’re very excited at the potential of this technique to differentiate oils produced from many different plastics and mixtures,” Schug said. “Finding a way to better recycle these plastics will help us reduce our reliance on new fossil fuels and, hopefully, do our part to stop contributing to climate change.”

UTA chemist developing method to recycle more plastics

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