The Coblentz Society has chosen Rohit Bhargava, a Bliss Faculty Scholar and professor of bioengineering at Illinois, as the recipient of the 2013 Craver Award in recognition of his work in the area of spectral chemical imaging, including the development of the fundamental theory and modeling of Raman and infrared chemical imaging.
Rohit Bhargava
In 2006, The Coblentz Society created an award to recognize the efforts of young professional spectroscopists that have made significant contributions in applied analytical vibrational spectroscopy.
Bhargava’s research interests have spanned the areas of Instrumentation development and analysis including the development of high definition and ultrasensitive IR imaging systems, and of time-resolved IR imaging. He has also made advancements in the design and fabrication of nanostructures for optical sensing, advancements in chemometrics, high-performance computing and visualization. His work has spanned applications of spectroscopic imaging to solve various problems in composite polymers, cancer histopathology, forensics, molecular diffusion, and seed grains.
A co-Leader of the HABITS--Health: Attitudes, Biology, Information Technology, Society Initiative at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Bhargava also holds faculty appointments in chemical and biomolecular engineering, mechanical science and engineering, and electrical and computer engineering at Illinois. He received dual B.Tech. degrees (in chemical engineering and polymer science and engineering) from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. His doctoral thesis work at Case Western Reserve University was in the area of polymer spectroscopy. Subsequently, he worked as a Research Fellow at the National Institutes of Health in the area of biomedical vibrational spectroscopy.
Current research in the Bhargava group is supported by several federal agencies, industry, private foundations, and competitive programs at Illinois. His work has been recognized with several research and teaching awards and he is routinely nominated to the List of Teachers Ranked Excellent. He is a two-time recipient of the FACSS Innovation Award for novel work presented for the first time at the SciX conference (2011 and 2012). His work has also been recognized with the award of the William F. Meggers Award from the Society of Applied Spectroscopy (1999 and 2002).
The Craver Award is named for Clara D. Craver in recognition of her pioneering efforts in promoting the practice of infrared vibrational spectroscopy and her many years of service to the Coblentz Society. Further, the Craver Award is the Society’s complement of its prestigious Coblentz Award that recognizes young spectroscopists for efforts in fundamental aspects of vibrational spectroscopy.
The Craver Award will be presented at the 2013 SciX Conference to be held in Milwaukee, WI in September 2013. Bhargava will present the Coblentz Society’s Craver Award Plenary Lecture in Applied Vibrational Spectroscopy and a separate half-day award symposium of five invited presentations will be held following his lecture at this conference.
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Contact: Rohit Bhargava, Department of Bioengineering.
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