Robert W. Schurko is a Professor of Chemistry at the Florida State University and Director of the NMR/MRI User Program at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab). His research has helped redefine what is experimentally possible in solid-state NMR (SSNMR), spanning fundamental methodology, high-field instrumentation, and transformative applications in inorganic chemistry, materials science, and pharmaceuticals. 

Schurko is the author of more than 165 refereed publications and has secured over $25M in competitive research funding. He is widely recognized for pioneering ultra-wideline SSNMR methods that enable routine study of “unreceptive” nuclides, including those that are quadrupolar, low-γ, and low-abundance, and/or that exhibit extreme broadening due to anisotropic interactions. This is accomplished through innovations in pulse-sequence design, broadband excitation/detection strategies, and probe hardware. His development of pulse sequences such as WURST-CPMG, BRAIN-CP, and PROSPR has opened new analytical capabilities across large regions of the periodic table, allowing his group to conduct experiments on more than 80% of NMR-active nuclides. 

A major theme of his work is applying advanced SSNMR and first-principles quantum chemical calculations to problems that challenge diffraction-based structure determination. Notably, his group has established powerful NMR crystallography workflows for pharmaceutical salts and complex solid forms, using highly sensitive quadrupolar observables (e.g., ³⁵Cl, ¹⁴N, ¹⁷O electric field gradient (EFG) tensors) as structural reporters for hydrogen bonding, polymorphism, and dosage-form composition. 

An internationally sought-after speaker, Schurko has delivered ~100 invited lectures and more than 100 invited conference presentations worldwide, and has played leadership roles across the magnetic resonance community. His honors include election as a Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance (2025) and the Florida Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2025), and well as receiving the Regitze R. Vold Memorial Prize for sustained innovation in SSNMR (2023).