George A. Abbott Lectureship

The Abbott Lectureship is designed to bring outstanding chemists to our department and to the area, to provide an opportunity for personal interaction with area students, practicing chemists, and faculty.

We have been fortunate to have some of the most outstanding chemists in the country present these endowed lectures, including Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry.

The George A. Abbott Lectureship was established by gifts from the University of North Dakota Alumni.

2025 Abbott Chemistry Lectures

Featuring Dr. Julia Laskin, Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Purdue University

Solving Biological Mysteries by Mapping Molecules in Tissues

Thursday, May 1, 2025, 7 p.m. | Abbott Hall 101

Mass spectrometry imaging is revolutionizing how scientists explore biology by creating detailed molecular maps of biological systems. These maps allow researchers to “see” and identify molecules, unlocking answers to some of biology’s most complex mysteries. How do cells communicate? What molecular changes serve as fingerprints of diseases? How do drugs interact with tissues? With mass spectrometry imaging, we can tackle these complex problems one molecule at a time. Dr. Laskin’s lecture will highlight recent advancements in instrumentation and data analysis that have enabled the generation of molecular maps with unprecedented detail. Her team is developing a novel technique called nanospray desorption electrospray ionization (nano-DESI), which allows for the imaging of biological samples in their native state.

Nano-DESI gently extracts molecules from samples and sends them to a mass spectrometer for analysis, enabling the identification and visualization of molecules in regions as small as 5-10 microns. This extraordinary precision unveils the unique molecular makeup of individual cells within biological tissues. By revealing the localization of lipids, proteins, metabolites, and other essential molecules, mass spectrometry imaging has become an indispensable tool in solving the mysteries of life. It holds the promise of transformative breakthroughs in medicine, biology, and beyond.

Designing Functional Interfaces Using Ion Soft Landing

Friday, May 2, 2025, 12:20 p.m. | Abbott Hall 138

The controlled deposition of complex molecules and clusters onto surfaces offers a unique opportunity to investigate the fundamental processes underlying the creation of functional 2D and 3D interfaces. These interfaces have applications across diverse fields, including separations, materials science, energy production and storage, physics, and biology. Ion soft landing—a technique in which intact polyatomic ions are deposited onto surfaces, with or without charge retention—is a powerful tool for studying ion-surface interactions. This method enables the precise preparation of layered architectures and the doping of 3D materials with well-defined ions of any complexity.

The ability to select the mass-to-charge ratio of the precursor ion, its kinetic energy, and charge state along with precise control of the size, shape, and position of the ion beam on the deposition target makes soft-landing an attractive approach for surface modification. High-purity uniform thin films on surfaces generated using this technique facilitate understanding of interfacial phenomena relevant to a broad range of applications. Experimental studies of charge retention by complex ions on surfaces have demonstrated efficient charge retention by anions and relatively facile charge loss by cations soft-landed onto self-assembled monolayer surfaces.

These findings provide the scientific foundation for the rational design of interfaces for advanced catalysts and energy storage devices. Recent advances in soft-landing instrumentation have further expanded its capabilities, enabling high-coverage deposition of both stable molecular ions and reactive fragments generated in the gas phase.  We discovered new physical phenomena associated with the multilayer deposition of well-defined ions. We also examined the reactivity of novel ionic species on surfaces providing insights into the design of functional interfaces. In this presentation, I will discuss the fundamental aspects of ion-surface interactions inferred from ion soft landing experiments and present several examples of the unusual surface reactivity of fragment ions.

About Dr. Julia Laskin

Julia Laskin is the William F. and Patty J. Miller Professor of Analytical Chemistry at Purdue University. Her research is focused on the development of mass spectrometry-based instrumentation and experimental approaches for selective modification of substrates using beams of mass-selected ions and for quantitative molecular imaging of biological samples.

Dr. Laskin obtained her M.Sc. in Physics from the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute (1990) and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1998) with Prof. Chava Lifshitz. She did her postdoctoral research with Dr. Jean Futrell at the University of Delaware and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Prior to joining Purdue in 2017, she was a scientist at PNNL (2002-2017) and was promoted to the highest scientific rank in 2011.

Dr. Laskin’s research has resulted in over 320 peer-reviewed publications including invited reviews and book chapters and 11 patents. She is Past President of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) and an editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Mass Spectrometry. She was Vice President for Programs and President of the ASMS, a co-organizer of the 2019 ASMS Asilomar Conference on Imaging Mass Spectrometry, and a chair of the 2017 Gordon Research Conference on Gaseous Ions. Her research has been honored with several prestigious awards including Presidential Early Career Award (2007), ASMS Biemann Medal (2008), Inaugural Rising Star Award of the ACS Women Chemists Committee (2011), PNNL Director's Science and Engineering Achievement Award (2014), Medal of the Russian Society for Mass Spectrometry (2017), the Ron Hites Award (2019), The Riveros Medal of the Brazilian Mass Spectrometry Society (2022), Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship Award (2023), and other.

Previous Abbott Lectures

• 2024 Dr. Paul J. Chirik, Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Chemistry, Princeton University
• 2023 Dr. Phil S. Baran, Professor, Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute
• 2022 Dr. Angela K. Wilson, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Michigan State University and 2022 President of the American Chemical Society
• 2021 Dr. X. Chris Le, University of Alberta
• 2019 Dr. Christopher Cummins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 2018 Dr. Thomas R. Hoye, University of Minnesota
• 2017 Dr. Jonathan V. Sweedler, University of Illinois, Urbana
• 2016 Dr. David Yarkony, John Hopkins University
• 2015 Dr. Donald J. Darensbourg, Texas A&M University
• 2014 Dr. Bruce Lipshutz, University of California, Santa Barbara
• 2013 Dr. Debra R. Rolison, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
• 2012 Dr. Michael Ward, Molecular Design Institute, New York University
• 2011 Dr. Thomas J. Meyer. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• 2010 Dr. Michael P. Doyle, University of Maryland
• 2009 Dr. Richard N. Zare, Stanford University
• 2008 Dr. Richard J. Saykally, University of California, Berkeley
• 2007 Dr. Catherine Fensealu, University of Maryland
• 2006 Dr. Malcolm Chisholm, Ohio State University
• 2005 Dr. Barry K Carpenter, Cornell University
• 2004 Dr. William Miller, University of California – Berkeley
• 2003 Dr. Victor J. Hruby, University of Arizona
• 2002 Dr. Samuel H. Gellman, University of Wisconsin
• 2001 Dr. Paul A. Wender, Stanford University
• 2000 Dr. Alexander Pines, University of California-Berkeley
• 1999 Dr. Tobin J. Marks, Northwestern University
• 1997 Dr. Henry F. Schaefer, III , University of Georgia
• 1995 Dr. Edward Yeung, Iowa State University
• 1994 Dr. Kendall N. Houk, University of California, LA
• 1992 Dr. Marye Anne Fox, University of Texas at Austin
• 1991 Dr. Andrew Streitwieser, Univ. of California-Berkeley
• 1990 Dr. Robert H. Grubbs, California Institute of Technology
• 1989 Dr. Peter B. Dervan, California Institute of Technology
• 1988 Dr. Mark S. Wrighton, Mass. Institute of Technology
• 1987 Dr. William J. Bailey, University of Maryland
• 1986 Dr. Allen J. Bard, University of Texas at Austin
• 1985 Dr. Harry B. Gray, California Institute of Technology
• 1984 Dr. Gabor A. Somorjai, University of California-Berkeley
• 1983 Dr. Melvin Calvin, University of California-Berkeley
• 1982 Dr. Koji Nakanishi, Columbia University
• 1981 Dr. Dietmar Seyferth, Mass. Institute of Technology
• 1980 Dr. Robert E. Sievers, University of Colorado
• 1979 Dr. Leo A. Paquette, Ohio State University
• 1978 Dr. H.C. Brown, Purdue University
• 1977 Dr. Roald Hoffmann, Cornell University
• 1976 Dr. Hans H. Jaffe, University of Cincinnati
• 1975 Dr. Daryle H. Busch, Ohio State University
• 1974 Dr. Fred McLafferty, Cornell University
• 1973 Dr. Cheves Walling, University of Utah
• 1972 Dr. John L. Margrave, Rice University
• 1971 Dr. Arnold C. Wahl, Argonne Laboratory
• 1970 Dr. Ronald Breslow, Columbia University
• 1969 Dr. David N. Hume, Mass. Institute of Technology
• 1968 Dr. Edward L. King, University of Colorado
• 1967 Dr. Harold J. Bernstein, N.R.C. Ottawa, Canada
• 1966 Dr. Ralph G. Pearson, Northwestern University
• 1965 Dr. Robert Parry, University of Michigan
• 1964 Dr. Robert West, University of Wisconsin
• 1963 Dr. Nelson Leonard, University of Illinois