Emerging scientists in analytical sciences: Niklas Geue

Abstract

Through a collection of editorials titled "Emerging Scientists in Analytical Sciences," we aim to spotlight promising individuals who are actively engaged in the realm of analytical sciences. For this editorial, we invited Niklas Geue who recently submitted his PhD thesis at The University of Manchester (UK). We are keen for anyone working in this field to nominate somebody for a Q&A by sending an email to one of the editors and explaining to us why this person should be highlighted. HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE FIELD OF ANALYTICAL SCIENCES?I grew up in Magdeburg, a middle-sized city in East Germany, and went to a high school with a focus on maths, science, and technology. Thereby, I was exposed to a lot of science, and early on I participated in competitions, seminars, and other science events. My main interest was always chemistry, evidenced by a considerable lab in my grandparent's garage -much to everyone's annoyance. In my late high school years, I also participated in the International Chemistry Olympiad and made it to the final German selection round twice (among the best 16). The question of what I wanted to study was never really in doubt. For my Bachelor's I went to Leipzig, a great student city, and graduated as the best student of my year. During and following my undergraduate years, I undertook three research internships. These experiences took me to diverse locations around the world: one internship was based in Santiago de Chile focusing on kinetics/spectroscopy (related to my Bachelor's thesis), another in Sydney centred around mass spectrometry (MS), and a third in Los Angeles, where I further worked on my spectroscopic skills. During these research stays, I realized two things: my strong inclination to remain within the realm of analytical and physical chemistry and my eagerness to actively engage in research at the earliest opportunity. The UK was ideally suited for the latter as I could start my PhD here directly after my Bachelor's. I was also always fascinated by how things work on a molecular level, and similarly enthusiastic about the interdisciplinarity with instrumentation and engineering. I became very interested in MS while I was in Australia, and decided that I wanted to stay in this field for my PhD work (Figure 1).