Biography
Brandi Schottel received her Bachelors of Science for both Chemistry and Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia in May of 2002. In fall of that year, she joined the group of Professor Kim R. Dunbar at Texas A&M University to study anion-π interactions and their influence on the self-assembly of transition metal complexes. After receiving her Ph.D. in Chemistry in May 2007, she started her first postdoctoral appointment with Professor Kenneth Raymond at UC Berkeley to examine the solution thermodynamic stability of gadolinium hydroxypyridonate complexes suitable for use as future MRI contrast agents. Her second postdoctoral appointment with Professor A. Dean Sherry at the University of Texas at Dallas focused on similar compounds for use as potential CEST (chemical exchange saturation transfer) agents for MRI contrast. Following this appointment, she joined the teaching faculty at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, a private high school for advanced girls, in August of 2010. She taught introductory chemistry and a college level course for three years before becoming an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Chemical, Bio-engineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET). This transitioned into a program director position in CBET where she is considered and expert on sustainability science that involves the integration of multiple systems. Brandi coordinates the INFEWS (Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems) initiative at NSF, and, more recently, the Signals in the Soil (SitS) program. Her interests include STEM education, nanotechnology, science policy, and communications associated with interdisciplinary science and engineering solutions for sustainability.