The Zhao Nano Lab at the University of Georgia is pleased to announce the public release of LinePilot Digitizer (LinePilot), a free, open-source software tool designed to recover numerical data from scientific line plots. LinePilot enables researchers to convert published figures, scanned plots, and other plot images into reusable numerical datasets, facilitating quantitative analysis, data comparison, and machine learning applications. The project was led by graduate student

The Zhao Nano Lab is delighted to announce that Amit Kumar successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation on October 27, 2026, in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Georgia. His dissertation, entitled “From SERS Spectral Variability to Reliable Biosensing: Plasmonic Substrate Physics, Time-Resolved Spectral Dynamics, and Machine Learning,” was completed under the supervision of Prof. Yiping Zhao. Amit's doctoral research focused on understanding the ph

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new book, SmartIPL: Smartphone Based Introductory Physics Labs, by SPIE Press. The book is now available in print and through the SPIE Digital Library. SmartIPL presents an accessible approach to introductory physics laboratory education by using smartphones and the Tracker video-analysis application as versatile experimental tools. Designed for both high school and college students, the book enables learners to investigate fund

On Tuesday, September 15, 2026, the webinar “Spectral Preprocessing, Chemometrics, and Machine Learning for Nanomaterial-Based Spectroscopy” brought together researchers working at the intersection of nanomaterials, Raman/SERS spectroscopy, data science, and artificial intelligence. The online event attracted 128 attendees, reflecting growing interest in reliable spectral data analysis and AI-enabled spectroscopy. The webinar provided an integrated view of the modern spectral

I am pleased to announce a new Special Issue in AI Chemistry entitled "Artificial Intelligence in Spectroscopic Techniques: From Data Processing to Discovery". Spectroscopic techniques—including Raman, IR, UV–Vis, NMR, XPS, and mass spectrometry—generate rich, high-dimensional datasets that play central roles in chemistry, biology, environmental science, and materials research. At the same time, spectral analysis continues to face major challenges in noise reduction, feature

The University of Georgia hosted a one-day workshop, “Spectroscopy Data and AI: Toward Integrated Research Infrastructure,” on August 21, 2026, bringing together leading researchers in spectroscopy, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data systems, and research cyberinfrastructure to discuss how the scientific community can build shared, trustworthy, and AI-ready spectroscopy data resources. Held at the UGA Center for Continuing Education, the workshop drew 76 particip

I am pleased to invite you to an upcoming Nanomaterials Webinar exploring the rapidly evolving intersection of spectroscopy, chemometrics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. 📅 Date: September 15, 2026 ⏰ Time: 9:00 AM EDT | 3:00 PM CEST 🌐 Format: Online 🔗 Information & Registration: https://sciforum.net/event/Nanomaterials-30 Spectral Preprocessing, Chemometrics, and Machine Learning for Nanomaterial-Based Spectroscopy Advances in Raman spectroscopy and surface-

We are excited to share that our Chemical Reviews article, “Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Viral Diagnostics: Principles, Strategies, Clinical Challenges, and Future Directions,” is now open access and freely available to readers worldwide under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license. Rapid and reliable viral diagnostics are essential for managing seasonal infections, emerging pathogens, and future outbreaks. Although nucleic acid amplification and an

We are excited to share our latest publication in Talanta, titled “Label-Free Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning for Rapid Classification and Quantification of Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex Viruses.” Bovine respiratory disease complex, or BRDC, is one of the most important infectious disease challenges in cattle health. It is a multifactorial disease involving environmental stress, host immune response, viral infection, and secondary bacterial infec

We are pleased to announce the upcoming workshop “Spectroscopy Data and AI: Toward Integrated Research Infrastructure,” to be held on August 21, 2026, at the University of Georgia. This workshop will bring together researchers from universities and national laboratories, to discuss how spectroscopy, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data standards, and research cyberinfrastructure can be integrated to accelerate scientific discovery. The event will focus on the grow

We are excited to share our latest publication in ACS Nano, titled “Deep-Learning Inversion Maps Arbitrary Design Images to Low-Cost, Efficient Nanofabrication.” This work was completed through an international collaboration between the University of Georgia and several leading research groups in China, including collaborators from Chongqing University, Zhejiang University, and the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo. This collaboration brought together expertise in nano

Website-ready release draft We are excited to share our latest publication in Sensors and Actuators Reports, titled “Detection of Bacterial Signatures from Culture Supernatants Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning.” Rapid and reliable bacterial identification is important for clinical diagnostics, food safety, veterinary medicine, and environmental monitoring. Traditional culture-based methods remain highly valuable but can require long processing t

SpectraGuru™, an open-source ecosystem for Raman and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy analysis, has released a major platform update that significantly expands its preprocessing, analytics, machine-learning, database, and toolbox capabilities. The updated platform is now available at spectraguru.org and provides researchers with a broader set of browser-based tools for spectral analysis, including new smoothing and baseline-correction methods, expanded machine-learning cla

The Royal Society of Chemistry has named Prof. Yiping Zhao among the 2025 Outstanding Reviewers for its flagship journal Chemical Society Reviews. This recognition highlights exceptional contributions to the peer-review process, honoring reviewers who demonstrate outstanding diligence, timeliness, and expertise in evaluating scientific manuscripts. Each year, the journal selects a small group of reviewers whose efforts significantly enhance the quality and integrity of publis

We are pleased to announce a new publication from our group in Analytical Chemistry, entitled " Comprehensive Open-Source Ecosystem for Raman and SERS Spectroscopy: Introducing SpectraGuru ", highlighting recent progress in improving the reproducibility and transparency of Raman and Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) data analysis through the development of the SpectraGuru platform. Raman and SERS spectroscopy are widely used across chemistry, materials science, biol

We are excited to share our latest publication (open-access) in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C , titled “ Understanding SERS Spectral Shape Variability through Substrate Optics, Molecular Orientation, and Unsupervised Clustering .” The paper presents a combined experimental and chemometric study that explains why SERS spectra often change in shape, not just in intensity, even when the same molecule is measured on the same general type of substrate. What We Did Using 1,2

We are excited to announce a new Special Issue in the journal Nanomaterials dedicated to the latest breakthroughs in Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) and related nanostructured materials. 📢 As Guest Editor, I warmly invite researchers, collaborators, and the broader nanoscience community to contribute their latest work to this timely and impactful collection. 🌟 Why This Special Issue? Glancing Angle Deposition has emerged as a powerful and versatile nanofabrication techni

We are pleased to announce the first publication describing the SpectraGuru platform , marking an important milestone in the development of an open and community-driven infrastructure for Raman and Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) research. The work, titled “ SpectraGuru: A Community-Guided Path Toward Scalable Raman and SERS Analysis ,” was published as a conference proceeding in Biomedical Vibrational Spectroscopy 2026: Advances in Research and Industry (SPIE P

We are proud to share that Prof. Yiping Zhao , Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Georgia, has been named a 2026 Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) . This recognition honors academic inventors whose patented technologies and translational research have demonstrated meaningful societal impact and commercialization potential. The Senior Member designation highlights sustained contributions to in

We are excited to share our new Analytical Chemistry review article, “ Decoding Complex Spectra with Machine Learning: Advances in Spectral Unmixing for Chemical Analysis .” Modern spectroscopy is indispensable in biomedical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, food safety, and materials characterization—but real-world spectra are often mixtures: multiple chemical components, overlapping peaks, strong backgrounds (e.g., fluorescence), and spatial mixing (e.g., imaging, r