Shaun Kelsey

Shaun Kelsey is a 2019-2023 Self Graduate Fellow pursuing a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at the University of Kansas.  He received a B.S. (2012) in chemical engineering, with a focus on material science from the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY.  Following his graduation, Shaun spent the next five years serving as an officer in the U.S. Army before deciding to return to academia and receiving a B.S. (2019) in chemistry from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. Originally, his research was in the development of a series of complexes that could be used to study how different ligand interactions affect the Lewis acidity of uranyl, the common form that uranium takes in the environment. However, his interests have now shifted to the area of functional materials. Specifically, his current research focuses on the synthesis, complexation, and characterization of Azulene-containing molecular building blocks that could be used in the design of molecular conductors and rectifiers.

Mentor: Mikhail Barybin, Professor, Department of Chemistry