The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization. Such activities should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of integrated contributions to research and education.

This CAREER award funded by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry program in the Chemistry Division supports work to study and optimize the mechanisms of ion production in ambient ionization techniques for mass spectrometry (MS), with applications for rapid screening and fingerprinting of drugs in the open air. Screening will aim at detection of counterfeit and/or substandard drugs. Improved fundamental understanding of ambient ionization methods will enable development of better detection techniques to characterize different types of counterfeit drugs, and to combat and prevent this problem. To extend these efforts, and to have a meaningful impact, we are working in collaboration with Dr. Paul Newton, a medical researcher based in SE Asia, and Dr. Michel Green, from the CDC Atlanta. More broadly, this work will support more rational application of ambient MS ionization techniques in a wide range of potential applications.

Congratulations, Facundo!