Emil W. Ciurczak has over 45 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, performing method development. He has worked on pre-formulation studies, pilot plant scale-up, as well as the final product and stability-indicating assay development. In 1983, he introduced NIR spectroscopy to Pharma applications, primarily for (EMA mandated) raw materials qualification. He was the first to report on polymorphism, optical isomer purity, blend uniformity, and particle size measured by NIR, with more than a dozen patents. He has consulted for several NIR instrument companies, has published over 100 articles in refereed journals, written over 350 magazine columns, and presented nearly 300 technical papers. He is Contributing Editor for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Contract Pharma magazines, has written several texts and chapters on NIR applications to life sciences: “Handbook of NIR Analysis” (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions), “Pharmaceutical and Medical Applications of NIRS”, “Molecular Spectroscopy Workbench.” Emil consults with pharmaceutical companies, instrument manufacturers, and the FDA (PAT sub-committee, Validation), and works with the USP spectroscopy group. He has advanced degrees from Rutgers and Seton Hall Universities and taught college and short courses since 1980.