Not-for-Profit Scientific Educational and Applied Research Organization
Mission Statement
McCrone Research Institute’s mission is to advance the proper use of the microscope through teaching, research, and publishing, while providing the highest quality education for each of its students so that they can solve the most difficult problems in their profession improving the quality of life, safety, and well being for all.
The McCrone Research Institute was chartered and incorporated in 1960 as a not-for-profit scientific educational and research organization in Chicago, Illinois. It is the world’s only teaching and applied scientific research organization devoted exclusively to publishing and research in microscopy and teaching the proper analytical use of the microscope and microanalysis used extensively by government, industry, and academia in the forensic, industrial, occupational, environmental, and conservation sciences. The four pillars of the Institute are:
The McCrone Research Institute was chartered and incorporated in 1960 as a not-for-profit scientific educational and research organization in Chicago, Illinois. It is the world’s only teaching and applied scientific research organization devoted exclusively to publishing and research in microscopy and teaching the proper analytical use of the microscope and microanalysis used extensively by government, industry, and academia in the forensic, industrial, occupational, environmental, and conservation sciences. The four pillars of the Institute are:
Education
Not-for-profit and independent, McCrone Research Institute operates without any commercial bias and with one goal, which is to provide the highest quality education for each of its students so that they can solve the most difficult problems in their profession improving the quality of life, safety, and well being for all. More than 30,000 have successfully completed one or more of its intensive weeklong graduate level courses conducted in Chicago, or on-site at the student’s location: a service that is unique to the Institute since 1960. Students from around the world rely upon McCrone Research Institute’s educational services because few, if any, colleges or universities teach its proper use and practical application.
Federal, state, and local law enforcement crime laboratory scientists and technicians in the US and abroad, medical and science first responders, air quality, water, food, pharmaceutical and drug chemists, occupational safety and health specialists, industrial hygienists, museum art and historical conservators, consumer product quality and contamination control experts, product research and development scientists, are just a small representation of those counted amongst the Institute’s graduates. Students come to McCrone Research Institute because they are not prepared or able to learn how to use their microscopes properly on the job or perform their jobs to the fullest of their capabilities. The Institute’s experience, longevity, and reliability, not biased or driven by profit or commercialism but rather the student’s success in learning by doing, observing, and interpreting, make McCrone Research Institute unique and valued by the students and their employers.
Federal, state, and local law enforcement crime laboratory scientists and technicians in the US and abroad, medical and science first responders, air quality, water, food, pharmaceutical and drug chemists, occupational safety and health specialists, industrial hygienists, museum art and historical conservators, consumer product quality and contamination control experts, product research and development scientists, are just a small representation of those counted amongst the Institute’s graduates. Students come to McCrone Research Institute because they are not prepared or able to learn how to use their microscopes properly on the job or perform their jobs to the fullest of their capabilities. The Institute’s experience, longevity, and reliability, not biased or driven by profit or commercialism but rather the student’s success in learning by doing, observing, and interpreting, make McCrone Research Institute unique and valued by the students and their employers.
Research
The McCrone Research Institute conducts basic and applied microscopy research related to its mission of education and expanding particle analysis capabilities using microscopical and microanalytical techniques to address problems in forensic, industrial, pharmaceutical, environmental, and conservation sciences. Research is funded by awarded grants and cooperative agreements associated with a variety of academic institutes, corporations, and government agencies including the US Department of Justice and the National Institute of Justice.
Publishing
McCrone Research Institute houses a publishing division for the interest and benefit of scientists from diverse scientific disciplines. The Microscope journal, published quarterly in Chicago since 1960 (and in Britain since 1937), accomplishes this by emphasizing new advances in microscope design, new accessories, new techniques, and unique applications to the study of chemicals, particles, fibers, films, etc. of any size and substance. Its readership includes scientists and microscopists from a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, law enforcement, forensic science, environmental services, materials-analysis consulting firms, as well as university research, museum, art conservation, and government laboratories. A major source of published papers for The Microscope is the Inter/Micro symposium held each year in Chicago.
Conferences
Recognized internationally and beginning in 1948, Inter/Micro is an internationally recognized conference that attracts professional and amateur microscopists from all areas of light and electron microscopy. Hosted and sponsored by McCrone Research Institute in Chicago annually, practical workshops and research presentations are given on applied and basic research covering new techniques and instrumentation, environmental and industrial microscopy, and forensic and chemical microscopy.
Center of Excellence
McCrone Research Institute is recognized as a “center of excellence” by the National Institute of Justice and as a world-class technology resource facility by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The Institute is a not-for-profit educational and research organization, Section 501 c (3), making it eligible for support by gifts from individuals, private corporations and foundations, and grants from federal and private agencies and universities.
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