Gary M. Hieftje is Distinguished Professor and Mann Chair of Chemistry at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. His research interests include the investigation of basic mechanisms in atomic emission, absorption, fluorescence and mass spectrometric analysis, and the development of atomic methods of analysis. He is interested also in the on-line computer control of chemical instrumentation and experiments, the use of time-resolved luminescence processes for analysis, the application of information theory to analytical chemistry, analytical mass spectrometry, near-infrared reflectance analysis, and the use of stochastic processes to extract basic and kinetic chemical information.
He was co-chairman of the 1979 Analytical Summer Symposium on Lasers in Analytical Chemistry, the chairman of the 1982 Gordon Research Conference on Analytical Chemistry, and General Chairman of the 1987 Analytical Summer Symposium on Biotechnology. He has served on the instrumentation advisory panel and editorial board of Analytical Chemistry. He currently serves on the editorial boards of various journals including Analytica Chimica Acta, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectroscopy, Journal of Mass Spectrometry, Laboratory Microcomputer, Spectrochimica Acta, Part B, Advances in Inorganic Mass Spectrometry, the Analytical Chemistry Bench Top Series from Springer Verlag, Talanta, and Spectroscopy and Spectral Analysis.
In 1983, he was the co-recipient of an IR-100 Award. In 1984, he was the recipient of the Meggers Award, the Lester W. Strock Award, and the Anachem Award. In 1985 he received the American Chemical Society Chemical Instrumentation Award, and in 1986 both the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award and the Theophilus Redwood Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was also chairman (1985-86) of the Analytical Division of the American Chemical Society. In 1987 he received the American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry sponsored by the Fisher Scientific Company and the Tracy M. Sonneborn Teacher-Scholar Award from Indiana University. He was then also elected to Fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1988 he received a second R&D 100 Award. In 1989 he received the Award in Spectrochemical Analysis from the Analytical Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society and was co-recipient with one of his students of an award to recognize the best paper of 1988 published in the journal Spectrochimica Acta, Part B. In 1991, he served as President of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, and received the gold medal of the Quality Control Academy of the Upjohn Company. In 1992, he received the Eastern Analytical Symposium Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Fields of Analytical Chemistry and was awarded a second Lester Strock Medal.
In 1993, he was elected by students at Indiana University to Honorary Membership in the Golden Key National Honor Society and was the recipient of the 1993 Distinguished Faculty Award from the College of Arts and Sciences alumni of Indiana University. In 1996, he was elected as the recipient of a Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists and received the Meggers Award from the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. In 1998, he received the ACS-Analytical Division Award for Excellence in Teaching and was awarded Honorary Membership in the Society for Applied Spectroscopy in 1999. From 1999-2000, he served as Director of the newly established Linda and Jack Gill Center for Instrumentation and Measurement Science at Indiana University and was the first holder of an endowed Gill Chair. In 2000, he was appointed to the Robert and Marjorie Mann Chair of Chemistry. Most recently, he was the 2000-2001 Indiana Academy of Science Speaker of the Year, the recipient of the 2001 Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award and also the 2002 Trustees Teaching Award at Indiana University. Hieftje is the author of over 500 scientific publications, 10 books, and holds 13 patents. Over 60 students have received doctorates under his direction; many others have received M.S. degrees, and scores of undergraduates and visiting scientists have performed research in his laboratories.
Hieftje received the IU Bicentennial Medal in September 2020 in recognition of his distinguished contributions to Indiana University.
