Modulator Development for Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography (GCxGC)

Student Intern Program at Sandia National Laboratories while completing Ph.D. thesis at U-M
Gas chromatography (GC) is a widespread technique for the analysis of complex mixtures. There continues to be great interest in developing GC instrumentation that is faster, more efficient, and more portable than current models to increase the number of potential applications for its use. Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) is a method of GC that can be used to improve the separation power of a GC system drastically, and much effort has gone into developing improved modulators, a key component of the GCxGC system. Modulator speed is a rate-determining step in current commercial GCxGC systems, so efforts are underway to improve their speed. Work that employs two general styles of modulator – thermal-based and valve-based – will be discussed.

Cory Fix graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN with an ACS-certified B.A. in Chemistry. He then enrolled in the Analytical Chemistry Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan and worked under Prof. Richard Sacks. He was involved with the WIMS program from 2004-2007 and is now participating in the Student Internship Program at Sandia National Laboratories in the DARPA Micro-gas Analyzer initiative while finishing his thesis.