Specialty: Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Education, Archaeological Chemistry, Forensics 

Biography: Dr. Braun, a native of McPherson, KS, has been a chemistry professor since 2007. In 2018, he joined the faculty at VMI where he teaches courses in general chemistry, analytical chemistry, instrumentation, and archaeological chemistry. He earned a B.A. in anthropology and a B.S. in chemistry before obtaining his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona in the groups of Dr. Craig Aspinwall and Dr. Joseph Perry. His graduate research focused on the characterization and application of multiphoton chromophores in micro and nanolithography and on enhancing the electrophoretic detection of neurotransmitters using Hadamard transforms. This was followed by a post-doctoral research position in Dr. J. Michael Ramsey’s group at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill centered on DNA sequencing using micro and nanofluidics. When not working with cadets, Dr. Braun enjoys exploring the region’s vast natural and historical sites with his wife and three daughters. 

Academic Interests: Research in the Braun group is divided between three areas: archaeological chemistry and the analysis of archaeological pottery lipid residues; the degradation of inks and pigments as applied to forensic document analysis; and chemical education as it pertains to the development of novel, context-based curricula/resources and the implementation of pedagogical best practice. Additional research interests include the synthesis and analysis of biofuels, characterization of hazardous chemicals used in museums and taxidermy, and signal multiplexing in separation science. 

Select Scholarship (Undergraduate researchers underlined) 

BOOK CHAPTERS

J. Labby, K. L. Braun. Preface - Chemistry’s Diverse Application in Art and Archaeology. In Contextualizing Chemistry through Art and Archaeology: Inspiration for Instructors; Braun, K. L.; Labby, K. L., ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, D.C., 2021.

L. Braun. Integrating Archaeological and Interdisciplinary Collaborations with Museums into the Chemistry Curriculum. In Contextualizing Chemistry through Art and Archaeology: Inspiration for Instructors; Braun, K. L.; Labby, K. L., ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, D.C., 2021.

L. Braun. Enhancing the General Chemistry Laboratory using Integrated Projects Based on Real-world Questions. In Active Learning Methods in General Chemistry; Blaser, M, Stewart, J. J., Clark, T.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2019.

JOURNAL ARTICLES (Undergraduate co-author)

S. Harper, F. V. Macdonald, and K. L. Braun. Lipid Residue Analysis of Archaeological Pottery: An Introductory Laboratory Experiment in Archaeological Chemistry. J. Chem. Ed. 2017, 94(9), 1309-1313.

AUTHORED BOOKS

K. L. Braun, S. Mohammad, N. Heldt. Interactive Instructor’s Guide for Gilbert, Kirss, Bretz, and Foster. Chemistry: The Science in Context; 6th Ed.; W.W. Norton & Company, Inc: New York, NY, 2020.

Anthony, K. L. Braun, H. Mernitz. ChemConnections Activity Workbook; W.W. Norton: New York, 2013.

EDITED BOOKS 

Contextualizing Chemistry through Art and Archaeology: Inspiration for Instructors; Braun, K. L.; Labby, K. L., ACS Symposium Series, Vol 1386; American Chemical Society: Washington, D.C., 2021 

GRANTS 

Braun, K. L., Heilpern, N. ‘23. Lipid Residue Analysis of Pottery Fragments Recovered from the Arikara Village of Greenshield, North Dakota Archaeological Society, Cynthia Kordecki Scholarship (2021) 

STUDENT PRESENTATIONS 

J. Wiltshire, K. L. Braun. The Effects of Degradation on the Differentiation of Quested Documents by Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography. VMI Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 26, 2021. (Talk)

J. Wiltshire, K. L. Braun. Influence of degradation on the analysis of questioned documents by capillary zone electrophoresis. ACS Spring National Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, March 2020. (Virtual Poster)

V. Macdonald, K. L. Braun, W. Green. Mapping Subsistence Patterns at an Arikara Site Using GC/MS Pottery Lipid Residue Analysis. Three Rivers Archaeological Society, Beloit, WI, November 2017. (Talk

V. Macdonald, K. L. Braun, W. Green. Mapping Subsistence Patterns at an Arikara Site Using GC/MS Pottery Lipid Residue Analysis. 75th Plains Anthropological Conference, Bismarck, ND, October 2017. (Talk)

PRESENTATIONS

K. L. Braun. Integrating Archaeological and Interdisciplinary Collaborations with Museums throughout the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum. Biennial Conference on Chemical Education. West Lafayette, IN, July 2022.

K. L. Braun and N. J. Heilpern. Lipid Residue Analysis of Pottery Fragments Recovered from the Arikara Village of Greenshield. North Dakota Archaeological Association Annual Spring Meeting, Bismarck, ND, April 23, 2022.

K. L. Braun. Teaching Chemistry through the Lens of Archaeology. 263rd American Chemical Society National Meeting & Expo, San Diego, CA, March 20-24, 2022.

K. L. Braun. Applying Chemical Instrumentation in the Museum. 253rd American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April 2017.

Featured in – Arnaud, C. H. New Approaches to Undergraduate Lab Classes. C&EN, 2017, 95(16), 26-27. 

POSTERS

K. L. Braun. Teaching Chemistry through the Lens of Archaeology. 263rd American Chemical Society National Meeting & Expo, San Diego, CA, March 20-24, 2022. [Invited poster]

HONORS 

2022 VMI Research Laboratories, Inc, Wilbur S. Hinman, Jr. 26’ Research Award in the Natural Science  

*Recognizes excellence in stimulating, encouraging, and conducting research. 

Professor
Chemistry

Specialty: Physical Chemistry &Synthesis of Inorganic Complexes for Applications in Electrocatalysis and Renewable Energy

Daniel Harrison is a 2005 VMI chemistry graduate. He was awarded his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia where he studied the ability of inorganic compounds to modify the standard organic chemistry of aromatic molecules. Many of the novel compounds he synthesized are at the National Institutes of Health: Molecular Library for Small Molecule Repository to evaluate their biological activity. Daniel continued his research career as a Post-Doctoral research associate with Thomas J. Meyer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Energy Frontier Research Center: “Solar Fuels.” There he studied the catalytic conversion of H₂O and CO₂ into usable fuels for applications in renewable energy technology. Daniel returned to VMI in January 2013 and is currently teaching Physical Chemistry. At VMI, his research efforts focus on utilizing electrochemical methods to analyze inorganic molecules that his students synthesize, in order to determine their ability to produce usable combustible fuels from electricity. His research is a part of a larger global effort to produce renewable fuels and help develop a carbon neutral economy. Daniel originally became interested in science because of his fascination with colors, fireworks, and a desire to understand and explain our physical surroundings with concrete descriptions.

Recent Publications:

2015

• Jacob T. Hyde, Kenneth Hanson, Aaron K. Vannucci, Alexander M. Lapides, Leila Alibabaei, Michael R. Norris, Thomas J. Meyer, and Daniel P. Harrison. “Electrochemical Instability of Phosphonate-Derivatized, RuIII Polypyridyl Complexes on Metal Oxide Surfaces.” ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2015, 7 (18), 9554-9562.
• Daniel P. Harrison, Logan S. Carpenter, Jake T. Hyde. “Reductive Electropolymerization of a Vinyl containing Poly-pyridyl Complex on Glassy Carbon and Fluorine-Doped Tin Oxide Electrodes.” Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2015, (95), e52035, doi:10.3791/52035 (2015).
  
  The Journal of Visualized Experiments article can be accessed via https://app.jove.com/t/52035 

2013

• Christopher R. Turlington, Daniel P. Harrison, Peter S. White, Maurice Brookhart, and Joseph L. Templeton. “Probing the Oxidation Chemistry of Half-Sandwich Iridium Complexes with Oxygen Atom Transfer Reagents.” Inorganic Chemistry, 2013, Article ASAP.
• Daniel A. Torelli, Daniel P. Harrison, Alexander M. Lapides, and Thomas J. Meyer. “Strategies for Stabilization of Electrodeposited Metal Particles in Electropolymerized Films for H₂O Oxidation and H⁺Reduction.” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2013, 5, 7050-7057.
• Christopher R. Turlington, Daniel P. Harrison, Peter S. White, Maurice Brookhart, and Joseph L. Templeton. “Probing the Oxidation Chemistry of Half-Sandwich Iridium Complexes with Oxygen Atom Transfer Reagents.” Inorganic Chemistry, 2013, 52, 11351-11360. DOI: 10.1021/ic4016405.

Research:

• Electropolymerization of a Vinyl-containing Poly-pyridyl Complex on Glassy Carbon and Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide Electrodes 

Instructor
Biology and Chemistry

Associate Professor
Chemistry

Specialty: Biochemistry & Enzymology

Dr. McCain is a biochemist with research interests in the study of enzymes. His research involves studying the detailed mechanisms of enzymes using techniques such as enzyme kinetic assays, UV-Vis spectrometry, bacterial transformation, protein expression and purification, chromatography, and site-directed mutagenesis. Prior to coming to VMI, Dr. McCain did his thesis research in the laboratory of Zhong-Yin Zhang at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he studied the mechanisms of protein phosphatases.

Professor
Department Head
Chemistry

Specialty:  Organic Chemistry & Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry 

Dr. Smith is an organic chemist with research interests in natural products chemistry and synthetic methodology. One aspect of this work is the synthesis of novel nitrogen-containing natural products; particularly indole alkaloids from sea sponges and pyrazole alkaloids from traditional folklore plants. Another aspect of research is the use of vinamidinium salts as synthetic intermediates to construct nitrogen-containing heterocycles. Prior to coming to VMI, Dr. Smith was a postdoctoral chemist at Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina working on a project to chemically inactivate nerve agents.

Recent Publications:

2013

• Stanton Q. Smith, Sean T. Dudek, Shu-Hui He, Jarod A. Girod, and Shane R. Nunes  “The Application of Vinamidinium Salts to the Synthesis of 1,2,4-Trisubstituted Pyrroles” Tetrahedron Letters 2013, 54, 3965-3966.
• John T. Gupton III, Nakul Telang, Dominic F. Gazzo, Peter J. Barelli, Kristin E. Lescalleet, Jonathon W. Fagan, Brandon J. Mills, Kara L. Finzel; Rene P. Kanters, Kyle R. Crocker, † Sean T. Dudek, † Corinne M. Lariviere,† Stanton Q. Smith, Kartik M. Keertikar, Christopher Warme, Wendy Zhong;  “Preparation of indole containing building blocks for the regiospecific construction of indole appended pyrazoles and pyrroles”  Tetrahedron 2013, 69, 5829-5840.

2010

• John T. Gupton, Nakul Telang, Xin Jia, Benjamin C. Giglio, James E. Eaton, Peter J. Barelli, Mona Hovaizi, Kayleigh E. Hall, R. Scott Welden, Matthew J. Keough, Eric F. Worrall, Kara L. Finzel, Emily J. Kluball, Rene P.F. Kanters, Timothy M. Smith, Stanton Q. Smith, Shane R. Nunes†, Mathew T. Wright†, and Jennifer M. Birnstihl “Further studies on vinamidinium salt amine exchange reactions, borohydride reductions, and subsequent transformations.”  Tetrahedron, 2010, 66, 8485-8493.
• Mathew T. Wright, David G. Carroll, Timothy M. Smith, and Stanton Q. Smith “Synthesis of alkylpyrroles by use of a vinamidinium salt.” Tetrahedron Letters 2010, 51, 4150-4152.