Purdue News

March 13, 1990 Cooks Named Distinguished Professor West Lafayette, Ind. – R. Graham Cooks, professor of chemistry at Purdue University, has been named the first Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Chemistry. The Hass professorship was established this year in memory of Henry Bohn Hass, who served as head of Purdue's Department of Chemistry from 1938 to 1949. Haas died in 1987 at the age of 85. Cooks' appointment, effective immediately, was confirmed Tuesday (3/13) by the Purdue Board of Trustees. "Graham Cooks is known as an eminent analytical chemist and is one of the world's pre-eminent mass spectrometrists," said Varro E. Tyler, executive vice president for academic affairs. "Mass spectrometry is a rapidly expanding instrumental technique that is finding applications across the sciences, and Dr. Cooks has played a leading role in advancing the instrumentation and range of applications of this area of science." A native of South Africa, Cooks received bachelor's and doctoral degrees from the University of Natal in 1961 and 1965, respectively. In 1967 he received a doctoral degree from Cambridge University, England. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Cambridge, he joined the faculty at Kansas State University as assistant professor. Cooks came to Purdue as co-director of the Department of Chemistry's Mass Spectrometry Center in 1971. In 1975 he was named director of the center and associate professor, and in 1980 he was named professor. His areas of specialization include instrument development, surface analysis and ion scattering. He is the author or co-author of 400 scientific papers, four books and 10 book chapters. Among the many honors and awards Cooks has received are the Thomson Medal for Contributions to Mass Spectrometry and the American Chemical Society Analytical Division Award in Chemical Instrumentation. Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page