Evan Pugh Professor Nicholas Winograd Announces Retirement

The Department of Chemistry extends its best wishes to Evan Pugh University Professor of Chemistry Nicholas Winograd, who retired from the department in 2020.

Winograd came to Penn State in 1979 and has been a faculty member for almost forty-one years. Before coming to Penn State, he was a faculty member at Purdue University. He earned his undergraduate degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his doctoral degree at Case Western Reserve University, where he completed his PhD in only two and a half years.

While at Purdue, he became interested in the emerging field of surface science. He began to work in the field of surface mass spectrometry and eventually developed a technique that combined photoelectron spectroscopy with surface mass spectrometry. This evolved into a secondary ion mass spectrometry technique that Winograd has worked on ever since. 

In 1979, Winograd was recruited to come to Penn State by former Department of Chemistry Head Joe Dixon, who hoped to build the area of surface science within the department. Shortly after arriving at Penn State, he received a Texas Instruments Foundation Founders' Prize. Winograd notes that this was a turning point in his life and his career, as the prize drew the attention of former President of Penn State Bryce Jordan. Following the Texas Instruments Prize, Winograd was named an Evan Pugh University Professor and moved his lab to Penn State’s new research park facility. In the 1990s, the group shifted focus  to using imaging mass spectrometry to look at the chemistry of single cells, an idea that drove the rest of Winograd’s career. 

During his time at Penn State, Winograd and his lab conducted groundbreaking research in the fields of surface chemistry and chemical imaging of biomaterials. The group has pursued new ways to learn about the behavior of various molecular surfaces and interfaces. To accomplish this task, the group developed surface-sensitive techniques that yield the molecular composition of the top layers of a solid. These techniques have been applied to the characterization of surfaces with special relevance to biology and materials science. 

Within the Department of Chemistry, Winograd was also instrumental in creating the department’s Electronics Research Instrumentation Facility, which provides cost-effective and high quality services for design and fabrication of custom instrumentation and the maintenance and repair of equipment for research and educational programs. This is a critical resource for researchers that continues to benefit the department to this day. 

Throughout his career, Winograd has collaborated with dozens of scientists around the world and has been listed as an author on more than four hundred papers; his work has been cited nearly twenty five thousand times.

Winograd’s academic achievements have also been honored with many awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International SIMS Society, Ted Madey Award of the American Vacuum Society, and the American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry. He has been elected as a councilor of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the chair of the SIMS International Committee, and the chair of the Evan Pugh Professors at Penn State. 

During his time at Penn State, Winograd advised over eighty-two graduate students and thirty-eight postdoctoral scholars as well as many undergraduates. In his role as advisor, Winograd helped to launch many successful scientific careers, and his work in and outside of the lab has created a lasting legacy within the Department of Chemistry and the wider chemistry community. 

Outside of the lab, Winograd is passionate about biking and running, even completing the Berlin Marathon in 2012. He also enjoys traveling and collecting wine.