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October 19, 2001 Four Purdue faculty recognized as most highly cited researchersWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Four Purdue University faculty have been recognized by the Institute for Scientific Information for being among the most cited researchers worldwide. Robert Graham Cooks and Michael Weaver of Purdue's chemistry department, and P. Suresh Chandra Rao and Raymond Viskanta of engineering, have been recognized as leading scholars in their fields by the institute's new Web-based resource that lists individuals, departments and laboratories that have made fundamental contributions to the development of science and technology in recent decades. The database can be accessed at https://isihighlycited.com. Researchers were selected for inclusion in ISIHighlyCited.com based on the total number of citations received by their scientific publications within a given category. Citations, or references to a researcher's scientific paper, are often used as a quantifiable demonstration of a scientist's impact or influence. The Institute for Scientific Information identified and evaluated 19 million articles or source records to identify the most highly cited researchers during the past 20 years. Those selected for ISIHighlyCited.com – approximately 500 researchers in six categories – comprise less than one-half of 1 percent of the almost 5 million researchers in the ISI database. Cooks and Weaver were among only 98 to be designated as highly cited authors for their work in chemistry, and were among only five analytical chemists on the list. "Purdue constitutes 40 percent of the worldwide highly cited community of analytical chemists," said Weaver, professor of chemistry. "The Purdue graduate program in analytical chemistry has been ranked number one in the nation uniformly for a number of years," Weaver said. "This listing is consistent with, and supports, the ranking." Cooks, the Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, has received national and international recognition for his work in mass spectrometry, including fundamental phenomena, instrumentation and analytical applications. His group studies collisions of ions in the gas phase and at surfaces. The group also studies ion mobilities and other physical properties of biological molecules, trace environmental analysis and atmospherically relevant ion-molecule reactions. Several new types of mass spectrometers have been constructed in Cooks' laboratory, and his group has made significant contributions to the development of desorption ionization and tandem mass spectrometry as methods to analyze complex mixtures. Cooks is the author of 650 scientific publications. Weaver, professor of chemistry, focuses on exploring surface chemistry in electrochemical, gas-phase, vacuum and nanomolecular environments. His research spans analytical, physical and materials chemistry. His group uses optical spectroscopic, atomic-level microscopic, electrochemical and density functional computational techniques to probe interfacial structure, bonding and dynamics of molecules. Weaver pioneered the application of surface-enhanced Raman scattering and infrared spectroscopy to obtain detailed characterizations of adsorbed molecules at electrochemical interfaces – techniques that are now commonly used in industrial and academic laboratories. He also is widely recognized in the scientific community for his contributions to electron-transfer kinetics in solutions and at electrochemical interfaces. He is the author of 400 scientific publications and book chapters. Rao, who is the Lee A. Rieth Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering, holds a joint appointment in Purdue's School of Civil Engineering and the agronomy department in Purdue's School of Agriculture. Prior to joining the faculty at Purdue in 1999, Rao was on the faculty at the University of Florida for 24 years, where he now holds an appointment as an emeritus graduate research professor. His professional interests include interdisciplinary research and graduate education in environmental science and engineering. Rao's research over the past decade has involved development of innovative technologies for characterizing hazardous waste sites and remediating contaminated soils and aquifers. His most recent research initiatives are in watershed-scale hydrology. In collaboration with colleagues at the University of Florida, Rao is studying the impacts of land uses and military training activities on the ecosystems at a military base in Georgia. He also received funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to study the impact of land uses on surface water quality and the environmental behavior of animal pharmaceutical chemicals in soils and water. His research has been documented in more than 150 publications, 30 book chapters, and various technical reports and conference proceedings. Viskanta, W.F.M. Goss Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is internationally recognized for his work in heat transfer. He has worked with NASA to investigate how weightlessness and reduced gravity would affect many technologies needed for the human exploration of space. These technologies are critical for the safety and efficient functioning of people living and working in space. His current research interests include heat transfer in combustion systems, melting and solidification of materials, transport in porous media, buoyancy driven convection flow and heat transfer related to materials processing. Viskanta is the author of more than 400 research articles and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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