Ongoing Affiliations
Light microscopy is now regularly taught in the curricula for the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University
California Association of Criminalists (CAC)
The California Association of Criminalists, in conjunction with the A. Reed and Virginia McLaughlin Endowment Fund, and McCrone Research Institute work cooperatively to provide a Customized Forensic Microscopy course in California. Through this endowment, California criminalists will gain specialized training in all aspects of forensic polarized light microscopy on your site using McCrone Research Institute’s microscopes, expertise, and experience.
For further information, please contact the Registrar
Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies
The McCrone Research Institute has enjoyed a long tradition of cooperation with Campbell Center offering courses and instruction in microscopy, microanalysis and microchemistry to meet the training needs of individuals who work to preserve historic landscapes and cultural, historic, and artistic properties. For almost 30 years, the Center (located in Mt. Carroll, Illinois) has offered individual courses and workshops. The course “Microscopy for the Conservator of Historic and Artistic Works” taught by Dr. Gary J. Laughlin of McCrone Research Institute, is scheduled for August, 2008.
For further information, please contact the Registrar
The Conservation Center at the Institute of Fine Arts – New York University
The Conservation Center at the Institute of Fine Arts – New York University (NYU) has repeatedly coordinated with McCrone Research Institute to offer the Chemical Microscopy of Art and Artifacts course for conservators and art history professionals at their facility in New York, New York. The emphasis of this course will be on art objects, especially paintings, but also textiles and paper. Students learn to use the microscope and sampling procedures necessary to study a wide variety of materials including pigments and fibers.
For further information, please contact the Registrar
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Dr. McCrone attended Cornell University and, under the study of Emile Chamot, completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry in 1938 and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1942. After leaving Cornell for Chicago, he incorporated McCrone Research Institute in 1960 and later dedicated the laboratories and building in Chicago to the late Professor Emile Monnin Chamot.
In the 1990s, Dr. McCrone and Mrs. Lucy McCrone made possible the full endowment of the Chamot Professorship at Cornell University. Light microscopy is now regularly taught in the curricula for the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University and Dr. Gary Laughlin now teaches Chemical Microscopy (McRI course #1202) in Baker Lab every summer.
Further information on the Chemical Microscopy course and registration information can be found here
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The McCrone Research Institute has in its collections a large number and variety of painting materials including pigments from the private collection of Edward Waldo Forbes, former Director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. McCrone Research Institute’s Forbes collection includes hundreds of pigments and related materials in powder form including photomicrographs, descriptions and microscope preparations suitable for examination by light and electron microscopy and chemical analysis. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has amassed a database for informations in their Forbes Pigment Database including inventory, locations and analysis results.
For further information, please contact the Registrar
The National Guard Bureau Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams (WMD-CST) Microscope Specialty Training Program
The McCrone Research Institute has been selected to teach specialized microscope and micro-analytical training to the National Guard Bureau’s Civil Support Teams. The program is producing students with advanced and specialized scientific skills in microscopical techniques and procedures used to combat the threat of WMD terrorist and warfare acts to mitigate their impact on human health and the environment. WMD-Microscopy specialists are instrumental in combating the threat of WMD terrorism by bringing their skills to the military and civilian response communities.
For further information, please contact the Registrar
The NIJ Forensic Microscopy Training Program
The NIJ Forensic Microscopy Training Program provides up to four weeks of basic and advanced forensic microscopy education and training to prepare forensic scientists for the identification and characterization of physical evidence. Participants will learn polarized light microscopy and related techniques through intensive hands-on courses and instruction. Courses in Forensic Polarized Light Microscopy, Advanced Forensic Microscopy: Hair & Fibers, Advanced Forensic Microscopy: Paint & Polymers, and Advanced Forensic Microscopy: Glass began in January 2008. They are open to forensic science practitioners in microscopy or trace evidence who work in state or local crime laboratories. McCrone Research Institute has received federal funds from the National Institute of Justice to provide advanced training to forensic scientists through the Presidents Initiative Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology. The project is funded under support of cooperative agreement 2007-DN-BX-K207.
For further information, please contact the Registrar
The State Microscopical Society of Illinois (SMSI)
Dr. McCrone invited the State Microscopical Society of Illinois (SMSI) into the McCrone Research Institute during the 1960s, providing gratis clerical, secretarial and professional services in addition to facilities for the storage of its collections. SMSI continues to utilize McRI lecture rooms and classrooms for its adult and young student groups, general meetings and workshops. SMSI holds its annual meeting and auction at the annual Inter/Micro conference, hosted by McCrone Research Institute, and presents awards to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to microscopy.
The University of Illinois at Chicago
As part of the requirements to complete a Masters of Forensic Science program at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), students attend Forensic Microscopy training at the McCrone Research Institute. UIC affords full graduation credit for McRI course work completed and McRI offers internships and scholarships to UIC students.
For further information, please contact the Registrar