The 2018 Dal Nogare award winner is Professor Robert Kennedy, the Hobart Willard Distinguished University Professor from the University of Michigan. Kennedy is being recognized for his contributions to the theory and application of separation science in neuroscience, endocrinology and biotechnology. The Dal Nogare award is given by the Chromatography Forum of the Delaware Valley and Dr. Kennedy will be the 46th awardee to receive this prestigious award which has been given yearly since 1972. The following additional speakers will contribute to the award symposium: Prof. Mary J. Wirth of Purdue, Dr. James L. Edwards of Saint Louis University in Missouri, Professor Milton Lee of Brigham Young in Provo, Utah, and Professor Joshua Coon of University of Wisconsin, Madison. Both Professor Wirth and Lee are previous Dal Nogare awardee's.
Professor Kennedy's research interests are analytical chemistry its application to neuroscience, endocrinology, and biotechnology. A theme of his group has been development of high-speed separations for sensing, detection of non-covalent complexes, and screening. His group has developed instrumentation that couples sampling probes to capillary electrophoresis, capillary chromatography, LC-MS, and microfluidic assays for monitoring neurotransmitters in vivo. These methods have been used for studying changes in neurotransmitter concentrations associated with behavior and diseases. His group has also developed sensors and microfluidic electrophoresis devices for monitoring insulin secretion from pancreatic b-cells. These methods are coupled with LC-MS metabolomics to understand the biochemical mechanism of insulin secretion and perturbations associated with diabetes. His group is also researching use of rapid electrophoretic and mass spectrometric assays for high-throughput screening. His work has been recognized by several awards including McKnight Award for Technical Innovations in Neuroscience, EAS Separation Science Award, Golay Award for Achievements in Chromatography, The Ralph Adams Award in Bioanalytical Chemistry and several teaching awards. He has held several service posts and is presently Associate Editor of Analytical Chemistry and Chair of the Chemistry Department at University of Michigan.