image description

McCrone Professional Associations

Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech)

Beginning in 2021, the McCrone Research Institute is the source of intensive, hands-on forensic microscopy training for students in the Forensic Chemistry (B.S.) degree program at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Experienced, senior research microscopists and instructors at McCrone Research Institute provide the classrooms and laboratories and teach the forensic microscopy trace evidence component for Forensic Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 476) for Illinois Tech students in the only university in the Chicago area to offer an undergraduate degree in forensic chemistry. This marks a return of McCrone to IIT where beginning in the 1960s, we developed and taught two IIT courses in our laboratories: Chemical Microscopy (CHEM 423) and Chemical and Polymer Microscopy (CHEM 523) that continued into the 1990s. learn more

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Chemistry Day
As a celebration of “National Chemistry Week,” McCrone Research Institute has been an exhibitor for more than 20 years providing demonstrations to families, young people ages 10-16 years old, and teachers – introducing people to the wonders and capabilities of the microscope. Chemistry Day is held annually at local universities and is sponsored by: American Chemical Society (ACS), Chicago Section in Partnership with Science Chicago. Learn more

American Institute for Conservation (AIC)

McCrone Research Institute offers courses for Art Conservators, occasionally with special assistance from the AIC. The Conservation Center Institute of Fine Arts at New York University (NYU) has hosted McCrone Research Institute courses with discounted tuition for AIC members. McCrone also teach courses on Microscopy for Art Conservators at the institute in Chicago and taught regularly at the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies in Mount Carroll, Illinois, (now International Preservation Studies Center at Highland Community College, Freeport, IL) with special discounts for AIC members. Learn more

McCrone Research Institute Professional Development Award (McCrone/ASTEE)

The McCrone Research Institute/American Society of Trace Evidence Examiners Professional Development Award is meant to promote and support training in the field of forensic trace evidence. Professional development activities not only deepen trace evidence examiners knowledge and skills as professionals, they also energize them with a new enthusiasm. This has a profound impact on the advancement of the field and furthers the mission objectives of ASTEE. This award is offered in partnership with the McCrone Research Institute in Chicago, IL. Applicants must be current ASTEE members in good standing. The award is given in the form of funding for any upcoming McCrone Research Institute class and up to a $500 reimbursement from ASTEE for travel. Learn more

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. Learn more

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. Learn more

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Dr. McCrone attended Cornell University and, under the study of Émile 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 Émile 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 departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Fiber Science and Apparel Design at Cornell University. Dr. Gary Laughlin teaches McCrone’s Chemical Microscopy #1202 in Baker Lab every summer. Learn more

Evanston Township High School (ETHS)

Career Day
McCrone Research Institute has been a speaker at Evanston Township High School’s annual career education program, called “Career Connections.” Helping students to make the connection between the importance of what they are learning in high school and how it translates into the world of work, by speaking to science classes about our career journey and experiences and demonstrating the capabilities of the microscope. We also host two students each year for a day of job shadowing. Learn more

International Preservation Studies Center (formerly Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies)

McCrone Research Institute has enjoyed a long tradition of cooperation with the International Preservation Studies Center, offering courses and instruction in microscopy, microanalysis and microchemistry. These courses meet the training needs of individuals who work to preserve historic landscapes and cultural, historic and artistic properties. For nearly 30 years, the Center (previously located in Mt. Carroll, Illinois) has offered individual courses and workshops. The course “Microscopy for Pigment and Fiber Identification in Art and Artifacts” is taught there by Dr. Gary J. Laughlin of McCrone. Learn more

Know Your Chicago – The University of Chicago, Graham School of General Studies

McCrone Research Institute has been a featured part of the 2008 Know Your Chicago: CSI tour. The institute hosted 240 guests over 2 days. The guests were given an introduction to Polarized Light Microscopy and McCrone. Tour guests learned about collecting trace evidence from bullets and even had some hands on time in the lab identifying hair and fibers. Learn more

Leica Microsystems

Light microscopes and stereo microscopes from Leica Microsystems combine outstanding optical performance with student-friendly features. Leica provides microscopes for various training courses, workshops and special events in support of McCrone Research Institute’s educational and research programs. Learn more

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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’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. Learn more

National Guard Bureau (NGB) Weapons of Mass Destruction — Civil Support Teams (WMD-CST) Microscope Specialty Training Program

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 chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological and explosives terrorist and warfare acts to mitigate their impact on human health and the environment. CST-Microscopy medical and science officers and operators are instrumental in combating the threat of terrorism by bringing their skills to the military and civilian first responder communities.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

McCrone Research Institute faculty produced and contributed photomicrographs of pigments for display in the Monet’s Water Lilies exhibit at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. The exhibit re-unites the three panels of Water Lilies. The exhibit also features a “Looking Closer” gallery, which used X-radiography to explore how Monet developed and reworked Water Lilies over the course of eleven years. The photomicrographs are displayed in the “Looking Closer” gallery as part of an interactive touch screen feature.
Learn more

National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Forensic Microscopy Training Program I & II

The NIJ Forensic Microscopy Training Programs provide 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: Human and Animal Hair, Advanced Forensic Microscopy: Hair and Fibers, Advanced Forensic Microscopy: Paint and Polymers, Sample Preparation and Manipulation, 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. The project is funded under support of cooperative agreements 2007-DN-BX-K207 and 2009-DN-BX-K212.
Learn more

State Microscopical Society of Illinois (SMSI)

Dr. McCrone invited the State Microscopical Society of Illinois (SMSI) into 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 McCrone 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, and presents awards to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to microscopy. Learn more

University of Illinois at Chicago

The McCrone Research Institute provides intensive, hands-on courses and forensic microscopy training as part of the requirement for students attending the Masters of Forensic Science program at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Experienced, full-time instructors at McCrone Research Institute, serving as adjunct professors and instructors at UIC, provide the classrooms and laboratories, teach courses, provide research guidance in applied microscopy, and offer internships and tuition-free scholarships to McCrone courses for UIC students in the MS for Forensic Science program. Learn more