2026 Honorary & Emeritus Membership Award Announced
We are thrilled to announce the 2026 recipients of the Honorary Membership Award and Emeritus Membership Award.
2026 SAS Honorary Membership Award Recipients
The Honorary Membership Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Society for Applied Spectroscopy in recognition of significant contributions to the field of spectroscopy over a lifetime of work. Please join us in congratulating our 2026 recipients.
Mike Carrabba, Ph.D., Envea, Sparks, Nevada
Mike received his B.S. in Chemistry (magna cum laude) from Salem State College and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Tufts University where he focused on the utilization of laser-induced fluorescence to examine ultra-cooled gas phase molecules in a supersonic jet molecular beam. After graduate school, he joined EIC Laboratories where he became Vice-President for the Spectroscopy Division. He conducted a variety of spectroscopic research programs, including state-of-the-art Raman spectroscopy. After leaving EIC, he joined Chromex, Inc, a manufacturer of Raman spectroscopy systems, as Marketing Manager and subsequently became the OEM Division Manager at Jobin Yvon, Inc (Horiba). Mike was with the Hach Company where he was the Director of Hach Homeland Security Air Systems and the Director of Open Innovation.
Mike has also been a member of the SAS for over 30 years and served as President in 2018. He has also been honored with the SAS Distinguished Service Award and was named a Fellow of the Society. He has also received numerous awards for his service to the spectroscopic community, including the ASTM Award of Merit, ASTM Fellow, FACSS Charles Mann Award for Applied Raman Spectroscopy and the Williams-Wright Award for Industrial Vibrational Spectroscopy. He has also been honored with the Distinguished Service Award from FACSS/SciX.
Heidi Goenaga Infante, LGC, Guildford, England
Heidi Goenaga Infante has over twenty five years of experience in elemental and speciation analysis. She earned her PhD from Oviedo University in Spain, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. Since 2003, she has worked at LGC, where she is now a Science Fellow as well as Chief Scientist and Director of Chemical Metrology at the National Measurement Laboratory. She also chairs the Editorial Board of the RSC’s Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry.
Her group’s research focuses on trace element speciation, metal omics and protein analysis, nanomaterial characterisation, quantitative bio imaging, and the development of reference materials and standards. Heidi represents the UK at the CCQM Inorganic Analysis Working Group and serves as LGC’s representative at ISO TC 24 for particle characterisation. She is also EURAMET’s inorganic analysis representative at the CCQM Key Comparison Working Group and participates in the EURAMET TC MC Strategy group.
Heidi has authored more than 185 scientific papers and nine book chapters. Her contributions have been recognised with the 2020 Lester W. Strock Award from SAS and the 2023 European Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry. She is a visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool in the UK.
Jürgen Popp, Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Jena, Germany
Jürgen Popp is an internationally recognized leader in spectroscopy and biophotonics, known for pioneering the translation of spectroscopic technologies from fundamental research into clinical and biomedical applications. He studied chemistry at the Universities of Erlangen and Würzburg, received his PhD in Chemistry, and conducted postdoctoral research at Yale University. After completing his habilitation at the University of Würzburg in 2002, he became Chair of Physical Chemistry at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and, since 2006, Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz-IPHT), where he has established a globally leading research environment in biomedical photonics and spectroscopy.
His research focuses on vibrational spectroscopy, particularly Raman spectroscopy, and its application to biomedical diagnostics, infection research, oncology, and precision medicine. His work has significantly advanced the development of label-free spectroscopic approaches for real-time molecular analysis in complex biological systems.
Professor Popp has authored more than 1,140 peer-reviewed publications cited over 44,600 times (h-index 88) and holds 21 patents. He has delivered more than 200 invited talks worldwide, including over 60 plenary and keynote lectures.
He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biophotonics and the Journal of Raman Spectroscopy and has received numerous international awards, including the Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award and the Charles Mann Award (FACSS), as well as an honorary doctorate from the University at Albany.
2026 SAS Emeritus Membership Award Recipients
The Emeritus Membership Award is given to SAS members that are formally retired from active research in recognition of significant contributions to the Society of Applied Spectroscopy and its mission. Please join us in congratulating our 2026 recipients.
John M. Chalmers; CChem FRSC
John began his industrial career in the UK in 1965 in the vibrational spectroscopy laboratory of the then ICI Plastics Division. He retired from ICI at the end of 1999 as a Business Research Associate. John became a self-employed consultant from 2000-2016 specialising in vibrational spectroscopy applications. From 2000-2010, he was also employed part-time at the School of Chemistry in the University of Nottingham.
He is an Honorary Lifetime member of both the UK Infrared and Raman Discussion Group (IRDG), having served as Chair (1995-2003), and the International Society for Clinical Spectroscopy (CLIRSPEC). John also served as a Governing Board Member of SAS and as its President in 2008. He was a committee member of the Association of British Spectroscopists (ABS), serving as its Chair from 1997-2000.
John received The Coblentz Society Williams-Wright Award in 1994. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.
He was the co-editor, together with Professor Peter Griffiths, of the 5-volume Handbook of Vibrational Spectroscopy. John has edited/co-edited several books/reference works on vibrational spectroscopy and has had published over 20 book chapters. He is author/co-author to over 50 journal publications.
Geoffrey N. Coleman
Ohio native Geoffrey N. Coleman was awarded B.A. and M.A. degrees by DePauw University. He earned his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at Colorado State University where he was mentored by R.K. Skogerboe (President of SAS in 1972). After a postdoctoral stint with D.F.S. Natusch, Geoff held faculty positions at the University of Georgia and the University of Alabama where research centered on sample introduction and applications of plasma emission spectroscopy. Moving to the commercial sector, he joined Leeman Labs, then Fisons/VG/ARL, and Thermo Instruments where he had roles in applications development, customer support, product management, and product development. Novel applications ranged from the analysis of food oils for trace elements, ICP analysis using VUV wavelengths, to real-time, on-line analysis of air and stack gases for trace elements. In 2002, Geoff was offered a leadership role at Meinhard (a division of Elemental Scientific Inc.) and a rekindled focus on liquid sample introduction to analytical plasmas.
Geoff helped establish the Piedmont Section of SAS, served on the Editorial Board of Applied Spectroscopy, and served several terms on the Governing Board. He has served on numerous SAS committees, including Lester W. Strock, Publications, Nominations, Awards (chair), and Tour Speaker (chair). In 2017, the Society honored Geoff with the Distinguished Service Award.
