LEXINGTON, Va. Sept. 10, 2025 — Lt. Col. Kevin Braun, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at Virginia Military Institute, and 1^st Class cadet Charles McLaughlin ’26 presented their research at the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) fall conference held at the Washington Convention Center in D.C. in August. As one of the largest scientific organizations in the world, the ACS annual meeting attracts representatives from industry, government agencies, and academia. 

Braun gave a talk centered on the chemistry department’s incorporation of computational methods throughout the general chemistry curriculum, a method that uses computer simulations to help solve complex problems. For the last three years, Braun and his colleagues, Col. Daniel Harrison ’05, and Maj. Caleb Brown, have been using the free research-grade computer programs, ORCA and ChimeraX, that use computational design to help cadets visualize molecules and develop fundamental chemistry skills.

“When the department originally looked at restructuring the general chemistry labs, we kept coming back to the idea of transferable skills, because general chemistry incorporates students from engineering, applied math, biology, computer science, and physics. It gives us an opportunity to show how we’re all united, how these subjects use similar language and tools. Our curriculum is unique in that it integrates computational methods through the general chemistry laboratory classes using a scaffolded approach. Cadets build up their understanding of computational methods piece by piece with each experiment. Complex concepts are also made more accessible by making connections with real-world applications and concepts being discussed in the accompanying lecture. In many colleges, introductory courses simply review material covered in high school, but we want to make sure our first-year courses have substance and are additive. We want to add to what the cadets learned in high school, and set them up to learn even more in subsequent years. Even students outside our major get excited about what chemistry can provide, and having biology students wanting to do computational projects has been a very exciting piece of this outcome,” Braun explained.

McLaughlin, a chemistry major from Maryville, Tennessee, gave a poster presentation of his Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) project on the trace lipid residue analysis of archaeological pottery at the conference. For McLaughlin, attending the conference was a wonderful experience to interact with his peers, explore advancements in chemistry, and present his research to many people. “VMI has provided me exposure to the professional world of chemistry and deepened my knowledge in the field. The funding and support provided by SURP are vital for opportunities like this. I loved meeting other chemistry students across different disciplines and getting feedback on how to improve my research. It was also helpful to learn more about graduate school opportunities and varied careers in chemistry,” he said.

Braun and his colleagues continue to evaluate course data and plan to submit their findings for publication. He plans to present their results next July at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he will be co-teaching two workshops on the interface of chemistry, art, and archeology, and co-hosting a symposium on the same topic.

Marianne Hause
Communications & Marketing
VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE