The Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award is given annually to a researcher who has made a significant and independent impact in the area of analytical chemistry within the first ten years after his or her doctoral degree. The award has been presented jointly with Pittcon since 2002 and is given out each year at a special ceremony during the Pittcon Conference and Exposition. The recipient’s name and achievements are added to the Pittcon Hall of Fame, which conference attendees can visit at the show each year.
Dr. Long Luo, University of Utah Department of Chemistry, was announced as 2025 PAA winner and was honored with this award at the symposium held during Pittcon in Boston on Monday, March 3rd. During the ceremony, Dr. Long gave a talk titled "Controlling Organic Reaction Selectivity by Alternating Current Electrolysis," focused on advancements in electrochemical organic synthesis, which promises greener and more efficient pharmaceutical production. He discussed how alternating current (AC) electrolysis, in contrast to traditional direct current (DC) methods, can enhance reaction selectivity and optimize synthetic processes by adjusting AC frequency. This work is part of his laboratory's "tetrahedron approach," which combines research in materials, molecules, and analytical methods to tackle environmental challenges. Dr. Luo also shared insights into his research group’s work and the significance of receiving the Pittcon Achievement Award.
Pittcon.org stated, “Dr. Luo leads an interdisciplinary research group at the University of Utah. The core of his research lies in electrochemistry, with wide-ranging applications in organic synthesis, material science, sensing applications, and catalysis. His research seeks to answer real-world problems in energy, materials, and environmental monitoring.”
Dr. Long Luo is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Utah. He received his B.S. (2009) in applied chemistry from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and his Ph.D. (2014) in chemistry from the University of Utah under the guidance of Prof. Henry S. White. Then, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Richard M. Crooks at the University of Texas at Austin. He started his independent career at Wayne State University in 2017 and spent seven years there before joining the University of Utah in the summer of 2024. He has received the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA), the Royce W. Murray Young Investigator Award from the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry, Pittcon Achievement Award from the Society of Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh, and Wayne State University Academy of Scholars Junior Faculty Award. He was selected as a Scialog Fellow, Chem Comm Emerging investigators, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. Young Investigators, Nanoscale Emerging Investigators, and a Langmuir inaugural Early Career Advisory Board Member. He also joined the Editorial Advisory Board of ACS Electrochemistry and the Journal of Electrochemistry. The research goal of his laboratory is to address the grand challenges of our time in environment, energy, and health by designing, discovering, synthesizing, and utilizing new functional materials and molecules and by developing novel analytical methods, tools, and devices.
Dr. Long said, “I am deeply honored to receive this award. I would like to express my gratitude to all the students and postdocs in my group for their hard work, as well as to my mentors and colleagues for their support. I am thrilled that this award recognizes our efforts to expand the impact of electroanalytical chemistry across various disciplines of chemistry, including organic synthesis, materials science, sensing, and catalysis. This award re-emphasizes the important role of electrochemistry in the field of chemistry.”
Congratulations, Professor Long Luo!
Watch Dr. Long Luo’s interview about his award here.
Read more about the award recipients from Pittcon.org.
For more information about the nominations, read here.
3/26/2025