texas a&m university chemistry graduate dr lane a baker former james f jackson professor of chemistry at indiana university has been appointed as a full professor in the texas a&m department of chemistry and as the inaugural holder of the dr carl d mcafee 90 endowed chair in analytical chemistry effective march 2022 baker who is renowned as one of the worlds preeminent analytical chemists relocated in january along with members of his research group to texas a&m where he previously earned his phd in chemistry in 2001 working with former texas a&m chemist dr richard m crooks bakers research focuses on nanoscale electrochemical methods for analysis and imaging with specific emphasis on new routes to high-throughput electrochemical analysis useful in studying phenomena at biological interfaces as well as both materials and environmental science analytical chemistry plays a foundational role in the department of chemistrys vision for the future by aligning potential departmental strengths with dynamic opportunities in the field said dr simon w north professor and head of texas a&m chemistry dr lane baker is a transformational leader in both analytical chemistry and measurement science who will serve as an anchor for our aspirations in developing enabling technologies and emerging cross-cutting toolsets that expand our vision of chemical processes baker received his bachelors degree in chemistry from missouri state university in 1996 after earning his doctorate at texas a&m he completed two postdoctoral appointments a national research council postdoctoral associateship studying scanned probe microscopies with lloyd j whitman at the naval research laboratory in washington dc (2001-2004) followed by a subsequent appointment studying nanopore membranes and single nanopore platforms with charles r martin at the university of florida (2004-2006) prior to beginning his independent academic career at indiana in 2006 he has been the james f jackson professor of chemistry in the indiana department of chemistry since 2014 the $1 million mcafee chair in analytical chemistry was created through the texas a&m foundation in november 2021 by combining a lead gift from debbie and dr carl d mcafee 90 of kennedale texas with supplemental funds from the thomas w powell 62 endowment fund dr mcafee who earned his phd in chemistry at texas a&m under the mentorship of longtime texas a&m chemist and former department head dr emile a schweikert is founder and president of mcafee consulting llc a fort worth-based firm that specializes in recycled plastics and sustainable polymers before starting his own business mcafee worked as a technical director at chase elastomer corporation and as a project leader at the dow chemical company a key component of recruiting distinguished faculty to texas a&m is resources to support their research programs said dr valen e johnson dean of the college of science and a distinguished professor of statistics we are extremely grateful to the mcafees for their generous investment in texas a&m science which ensures both now and into the future that we have the ability to attract leading scientists like dr lane baker who will directly result in the elevation of our standing as a first-class chemistry program and have maximum impact on current and future aggies already in his relatively young academic career baker has been recognized with a national science foundation career award (2009) a cottrell scholar award (2009) a society for electroanalytical chemistry young investigator award (2012) election as a fellow of the royal society of chemistry (2012) and most recently the highly prestigious american chemical society division of analytical chemistry award in electrochemistry (2021) and election as an acs fellow (2021) i am very excited to come back to texas a&m and the chance to be associated with dr mcafee is both an honor and an opportunity that was key to coming home baker said carls real-world problem-solving skills in industrial chemistry settings are something we hope to enhance in our student training in measurement science and analytical chemistry at texas a&m im very bullish on what we can accomplish in the near future and long term to learn more about baker and his research visit https://bakergrporg/