As of 2024 we have a new IPPA donor who wishes to remain anonymous, who has graciously allowed us to establish a new Gerald J. Diebold Prize in Theoretical Photoacoustics and Photothermics. The new IPPA prize recognizes Professor Diebold’s seminal contributions to theoretical developments in Photoacoustics through his multi-decade active years (still going strong!) and his pioneering contributions as a co-founder and Director of the IPPA between 2002 and 2020. The new Prize will be awarded every 4 years during the well established biennial International Conference on Photoacoustic and Photothermal Phenomena (every 2 ICPPP cycles) starting in 2024. The fund establishment is immediate with the first prize being awarded at the ICPPP22 in Coimbra, Portugal, to Professor Vitalyi E. Gusev, Université du Maine, for his seminal work in theoretical photoacoustics.
In future years the new themed Prize will be subject to the biennial selection committee’s deliberations on submitted nominations at the same time as the rest of the IPPA Prize selection process. It is a wonderful proof of the international photoacoustic and photothermal community’s cohesion and dedication to our science and technologies that the IPPA Prizes have grown from two at their inception in 2002 to four in 2024.
Andreas Mandelis, June 2024