Prof. Shingledecker, a native of Virginia Beach, VA, joined the faculty of VMI in 2024. Before joining VMI, his first academic appointment was in 2020 as a member of a physics and astronomy department. Currently, he teaches courses in general chemistry, physical chemistry, and astrochemistry.

He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia in 2013, and his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2018 at the same university under the supervision of Prof. Eric Herbst, who is widely regarded as one of the fathers of astrochemistry. His graduate research focused on simulating cosmic ray-driven radiation chemistry on interstellar dust grains and their ice mantles. After earning his Ph.D., he was awarded the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral research fellowship and spent two years in Germany working at both the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Munich with Prof. Dr. Paola Caselli, as well as at the Institute for Theoretical Chemistry in Stuttgart working with Prof. Dr. Johannes Kästner. Prof. Shingledecker has been chair of the American Chemical Society’s astrochemistry subdivision as well as a guest editor of the journal “ACS Earth and Space Chemistry.”

In astronomy, Prof. Shingledecker is a member of the American Astronomical Society and an elected member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Outside of research, Prof. Shingledecker enjoys dividing his time between too many hobbies, including hiking, gardening, model railroading, collecting/restoring old electronics, music, and reading.