Javier Laserna, awarded with the 2018 Lester W. Strock Award in recognition of his contributions to the field of analytical atomic spectrometry. According to the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (Maryland, USA),  the driving force behind his selection for this award was “the development of analytical methods and instrumentation using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) as presented in your impressive series of scholarly papers published during 2013-2017 which culminate on the analysis of single optically trapped nanoparticles at the attogram level”.

The award was formally presented at SAS’s National Meeting and 60th Anniversary Celebration during SciX 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. The award was presented at a special ceremony on Tuesday, October 23 at 7:00 pm. The ceremony was followed at the SAS´s Annual National Meeting. The presentation was held in the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta.

Previous Lester Strock Award Winners include:

1980 John P. Walters
1981 David M. Hercules
1982 Charles Wilkins
1983 M. Barber, R.S. Bardoli, R. D. Sedgwick, A.N. Tyler
1984 Gary M. Hieftje, Stanley B. Smith, Jr.
1985 C.R. Blakley, M.L. Vestal
1986 Robert S. Houck, Velmer A. Fassell, Gerald D. Flesch, Harry J. Svec, Alan L. Gray, Charles E. Taylor
1987 Richard Sacks, J.M. Goldberg, R.J. Collins, S.Y. Suh
1988 Thomas C. O’Haver
1989 Gary Horlick, Martha A. Vaughn, S.H. Tan
1990 Edward S. Yeung
1991 M. Bonner Denton
1992 G. Hieftje
1993 Willard W. Harrison
1994 Richard F. Browner, Guangxuan Zhu
1995 Michael D. Morris
1996 Richard A. Keller
1997 Therese M. Cotton
1998 Sandford Asher
1999 D. Bruce Chase
2000 Max Diem
2001 John Olesik
2002 Julian Tyson
2003 Ramon Barnes
2004 James D. Winefordner
2005 Richard Russo
2006 Paul Farnsworth
2007 Detlef Günther
2008 Annemie Bogaerts
2009 Nico Omenetto
2010 Kay Niemax
2011 David W. Hahn

2012 Ralph Sturgeon
2013 Richard Russo
2014 Steven Ray
2015 R. Kenneth (Ken) Marcus
2016 Raymond Arvidson
2017 Frank Vanhaecke