Biography
José R. Almirall is Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in Chemistry and Biochemistry at Florida International University in Miami. He received a BS in Chemistry from FIU, a MS in Chemistry from the University of Miami and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde. He began his career at the Miami-Dade Police Department forensic laboratory as a practicing forensic chemist where he worked for 12 years prior to his academic appointment at FIU in 1998. He was the founding co-Director of the International Forensic Research Institute at FIU (1997) and the founding graduate program director of the MS in Forensic Science program at FIU (1998). He was also the founding Director of the NSF-funded Center for Advanced Research in Forensic Science (CARFS) at Florida International University.
His research interests include development of mass spectrometry, atomic spectroscopy, and molecular spectroscopy measurement science for improving the forensic examination of controlled substances, explosives, and trace evidence (materials). His research group has also been interested in developing statistical tools to improve the interpretation of chemical data in the forensic context. Prof. Almirall and his group have authored more than 165 peer-reviewed publications in analytical and forensic chemistry, and he currently serves as the co-Editor-in-Chief of Forensic Chemistry, an Elsevier journal. Prof. Almirall joined the National Science Foundation (NSF) in August of 2022 as a Program Director rotator in the Division of Chemistry, Chemical Measurement and Imaging (CMI) and Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) programs.