Dr. Shawn Burdette

Dr. Shawn Burdette. Shawn was born in Charleston, West Virginia and grew up on the banks of the Elk River just a few miles away from the Elk Refinery, which was the first commercial ethylene plant in the world. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH where he earned his B.S. in chemistry. As an undergraduate, Shawn worked in the labs of John D. Protasiewicz on multiple bonding between main group elements stabilized by sterically demanding ligands. He then moved to Boston, MA where he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study bioinorganic chemistry. He earned his Ph.D. in 2003 under the direction of Stephen Lippard working on zinc metalloneurochemistry and fluorescent sensors. Following his graduate career, Shawn traveled across the country to Berkeley, CA to study dendrimers in the laboratories of Jean Fréchet at the University of California. In 2005, he made a second trip cross-country, this time in the opposite direction, to take his current position at the University of Connecticut. Since arriving in Storrs, Shawn has initiated an active program that investigates various topics in bioinorganic chemistry through the use of fluorescent sensors and dendrimers.

When not working, Shawn enjoys exploring the world, preferably with his wife and their greyhounds in tow. In addition, Shawn is a baseball and football fan who follows the Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, WVU Mountaineers, and the many other teams he has become a fan of during his long educational journey.