Carnell Professor of Chemistry Hai-Lung Dai was recently honored with a special issue of The Journal of Physical Chemistry for his contributions to the field, leadership and impact as a scientist and mentor. Below is an exerpt, co-written by CST Professor Eric Borguet, from the issue's preface.

It is our great pleasure to provide the tribute to the Hai-Lung Dai Festshrift Virtual Special Issue. Hai-Lung is a productive and creative experimental physical chemist, who has been a much-admired mentor for several generations of scientists, as well as a stimulating colleague and collaborator. This issue is a collection of papers from students and postdocs who have worked in Hai-Lung’s laboratory, as well as his colleagues and friends. As can be seen from the list of papers, the topics that are covered in this Virtual Special Issue are extremely broad, ranging from the high-resolution spectroscopy of small molecules, through to linear and nonlinear optical studies of biological systems, plasmonics, and surface science. This of course reflects Hai-Lung’s own broad interests in science. In addition to running a large and vigorous research group, Hai-Lung has also held a number of important administrative roles at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. In these roles he has nurtured the careers of many scientists beyond those that have formally worked in his own group. Hai-Lung has also been a leader in advancing science and chemistry education in the city of Philadelphia, where he has spent the majority of his career and raised his family.

-Eric Borguet, Robert W. Field, Gregory V. Hartland, Ward Plummer, Yuen Ron Shen, Hongfei Wang

Read the tribute and access the full issue here