Contextualizing Chemistry in Art and Archaeology
Inspiration for Instructors
ACS SYMPOSIUM Series

Engaging students through the chemistry of art, archaeology, and cultural heritage Chemistry serves a critical role in the fields of archaeology and art, from assisting in the reconstruction of humanity's past to the preservation of priceless works of art. Exploring the interface of chemistry, art, and archaeology within the chemistry curriculum can help students understand and engage in core chemistry concepts. Readers will appreciate the comprehensive description of tested pedagogical activities, laboratories, courses, and study abroad experiences at the intersection of chemistry, art, and archaeology.

Kevin L. Braun has been a chemistry instructor since 2007. In 2018, he joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at the Virginia Military Institute and teaches courses in general chemistry, analytical chemistry, and instrumentation. Dr. Braun earned a B.S. in Chemistry and B.A. in Anthropology before obtaining his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona in Dr. Craig Aspinwall's group. This was followed by a post-doctoral research position with Dr. J. Michael Ramsey at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Throughout his career, Dr. Braun has been interested in how context-based programming can improve student performance and enthusiasm from introductory chemistry to advanced topic courses. In 2012, he coauthored the ChemConnections Activity Workbook (W. W. Norton), a collection of fifty-nine activities and laboratories set in context of societally and environmentally relevant issues. In 2020, he again partnered with W.W. Norton to coauthor a context-rich, first-ever interactive instructor's guide for Chemistry: The Science in Context, 6th Ed. by Gilbert, Kirss, Bretz, and Foster. Between 2010 and 2016, he organized and co-taught four week-long faculty workshops on teaching chemistry through the lens of renewable energy in the NSF sponsored Chemistry Collaborations, Workshops, and Community of Scholars (cCWCS) program. Dr. Braun's research interests include the investigation of ink and pigment degradation in the context of forensic document analysis and archaeological lipid residue analysis. These projects also inform his teaching and have led to the development of context-based undergraduate laboratories on forensic document analysis, arsenic screening of taxidermy, ethnographic, and archaeological collections, and lipid residue analysis of archaeological pottery. The latter laboratory was published in the Journal of Chemical Education in 2017. Kristin Jansen Labby is faculty in the Chemistry Department at Beloit College. After undergraduate studies at t