G. Asher Newsome
Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute
Candidate Statement
ASMS is the most important organization to me, professionally and personally. I have attended the annual conference every year since 2007, and it has been an honor to serve the society which has so supported me. As Member-At-Large for Membership I would lead new and continuing efforts to support accessibility, diversity, and mentorship, for the benefit of all members.
G. Asher Newsome, B.S. Chem (University of Georgia); Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Professor Gary Glish); ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow (US FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition with Dr. John Callahan and Dr. Peter Scholl); Senior Staff Scientist (Nova Research, Inc., contractor to US Naval Research Laboratory). Dr. Newsome is currently a Physical Scientist with the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute in Suitland, MD, USA.
Although he has background in MS instrumentation fundamentals, aerosols, food allergen LCMS, and explosives research, Dr. Newsome’s current research interests center on the development of mass spectrometry methods for conservation and cultural heritage applications. He most often employs ambient MS, GCMS, and other techniques for small molecule analysis. He delights in instrument design and modification to accommodate the study of materials and objects with exceptional characteristics such as large physical size, cultural sensitivity, or unavailability for destructive sampling. In his career in government labs, he has over twenty-five publications and a patent.
Dr. Newsome co-founded the ASMS Ambient Sampling and Ionization interest group. He has served on the ASMS History Committee, creating several posters relating to society membership. At recent ASMS meetings he has organized evening workshops on Art, Museums & Archaeology and Ambient Ionization; chaired an oral session; and led a meeting of local MS discussion groups. Dr. Newsome has also been continually involved with the leadership of the Washington-Baltimore Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group since 2013, serving as co-chair, secretary, or board member. Dr. Newsome is a member of and symposium organizer for the American Chemical Society and participates in the IPERION Heritage Science consortium.