Bio
Dr. Jennings graduated from the University of Texas at Tyler with a B.S. degree in Chemistry in May 2009. She entered the Ph.D. program at Southern Methodist University the following fall. Dr. Jennings completed her Ph.D. in 2014 under the guidance of Professor David Y. Son, with an emphasis in organic chemistry and organic materials. Dr. Jennings tenure at the U.S. Air Force Academy began in August 2014 as a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Jennings was hired as an Assistant Professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy in 2018.
At USAFA, Dr. Jennings teaches both core chemistry and upper division majors courses. She course directs chemistry 344, 440, and 465. Dr. Jennings has an active research group, with interests in the realm of polymers and materials for advanced applications.
Education
Ph.D., Chemistry, (Emphasis in Organic and Materials Chemistry), Southern Methodist University; Dallas, Texas (2014)
B.S., Chemistry; Minor Mathematics, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, Texas (2009)
Professional Experience
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (2021-Present)
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (June 2018-2020)
Senior Scientist, Advanced Materials Program, Chemistry Research Center, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (2016-2018)
Post-doctoral Experience, National Research Council (NRC) Post-doctoral Fellow, Applied Materials Program, Chemistry Research Center, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (2014-2016)
Honors & Awards
Frank J. Seiler Award (USAFA, 2022)
Outstanding Academy Educator (USAFA, 2022)
AFOSR Small Grant Awardee (USAFA, 2021 and 2022)
DTRA Faculty Grant Awardee (USAFA, 2019-2022)
National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship (USAFA, 2014-1016)
NASA/Texas Space Consortium Fellowship (SMU, 2011-2013)
Southern Methodist University Graduate Research Achievement Award (SMU, 2013)
Southern Methodist University Department of Chemistry Citizenship Award (SMU, 2010)
Southern Methodist University Lazenby Graduate Award (SMU, 2009-2013)
University of Texas at Tyler John Kermit Owen Endowed Chemistry Scholarship (UT Tyler, 2008)
Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Fellowship (UT Tyler, 2007-2008)
Research and Scholarly Interests
I am interested in the use of various orthogonal and ‘click’ chemistries for the design and efficient synthesis of highly functional compounds for focused material applications. These materials include dendritic and branched molecules, siloxane-based hybrid materials, nanoparticles, gels, and monomers for the development of novel polymers and composites.
Publications
Selected Publications:
Gautam, R.; Geniza, I.; Iacono, S. T.; Friesen, C. M.; Jennings, A. R. Perfluoropyridine: Discovery, Chemistry, and Applications in Polymers and Material Science. Molecules 2022, 27, 1616.
Strutton, J. W.; Moser, N. H.; Garboczi, E. J.; Jennings, A. R.; Runnels, B.; McCollum, J. M. “Interface History on Strain Field Evolution in Epoxy Resins”, ACS Applied Polymer Materials 2022.
Stewart, K. A.; Shuster, D.; Leising, M.; Coolidge, I.; Lee, E.; Stevens, C.; Peloquin, A. J.; Kure, D.; Jennings, A. R.; Iacono, S. T. “Synthesis, Characterization, and Thermal Properties of Fluoropyridyl-Functionalized Siloxanes of Divers Polymeric Architectures”, Macromolecules, 2021, 54, 4871.
Peloquin, A. J.; Kure, D. A.; Jennings, A. R.; McMillen, C. D.; Iacono, S. T.; Pennington, W. T. “Fluorinated Aminopyridines: Synthesis, Structure, and Rare Liquid-Liquid Cocrystal Formation Driven by Unusually Short NHFC Hydrogen Bonding”, Crystal Growth and Design, 2020, 20, 5484.
Jennings, A. R. and Iacono, S.T. “Flurinated Cycloalkene Fucntionalized Silicas”, 2020 (Issued), US Patent 10,711,017.
Moore, L. M. J.; Greeson, K. T.; Stewart, K. A.; Kure, D. A.; Corley, C. A.; Jennings, A. R.; Iacono, S. T.; Ghiassi, K. B. “Perfluoropyridine as a Scaffold for Semifluorinated Thiol-ene Netwoks with Readily Tunable Thermal Properties”, Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 2020, 221, 2000100.
Alvino, E. L.; Lochmaier, E. C.; Iacono, S. T.; *Jennings, A. R. “Chemoselective nucleophilic additions to perfluorocylclopentene: An efficient building block to highly fluorinated molecules”, Journal of Fluorine Chemistry, 2020, 232, 109454.
Iacono, S. T. and *Jennings, A. R. “Recent Studies on Fluorinated Silica Nanometer-Sized Particles”, Nanomaterials, 2019, 9, 684-702.
Jennings, A. R.; McCollum, J.; Wilkins, A. J.; Manni, S.; Iacono, S. T. “Synthesis and characterization of partially fluorinated aerogels and xerogels from environmentally-compatible precursors”, RSC Advances, 2017, 7, 21962-21968.
Jennings, A. R.; Morey, A. M.; Guenthner, A. J.; Iacono, S. T. “Synthesis and characterization of siloxane-based cyanate ester elastomers from readily available materials: a top-down approach”, Polymer International, 2017, 66, 540-547.
Jennings, A. R.; Budy, S. M.; Thrasher, C. J.; Iacono, S. T. “Synthesis of fluorinated silica nanoparticles containing latent reactive groups for post-synthetic modification and for tunable surface energy”, Nanoscale, 2016, 8,16212-16220.
Knauer, K. M.; Jennings, A. R.; Bristol, A. N.; Iacono, S. T.; Morgan, S. E. “Synthesis, characterization, and surface properties of branched polyethersulfone from semi-fluroinated polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes”, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2016, 8, 12434-12444.
Jennings, A. R. and Iacono, S. T. “Progress in fluorinated organically modified silicas”, Polymer International, 2016, 65, 6-10.
Jennings, A. R. and Son, D. Y. “Synthesis and anion recognition of preorganized colorimetric compounds and their reference receptors”, Tetrahedron, 2015, 71, 3990-3999.
Jennings, A. R.; Bassampour, Z. S.; Patel, A. G.; Son, D. Y. “Orthogonal reactivity of thiols towards chlorovinylsilanes: selective thiol-ene chemistry”, Tetrahedron Letters, 2014, 55, 6773-6775.
Ware, T.; Jennings, A. R.; Bassamapour, Z. S.; Simon, D.; Son, D. Y.; Voit, W. “Degradable, silyl ether, thiol-ene networks”, RSC Advances, 2014, 4, 39991-40002.
Jennings, A. R. and Son, D. Y. “Multifunctional thiols from the highly selective reaction of mercaptoalcohols with chlorosilanes”, Chemical Communications, 2013, 49, 3467-3469.
Son, D. Y and Jennings, A. R.* “Multi-thiol Mercaptoalkoxysilane Compositions”, US Patent 9243006, WO Patent 2014059276 A1, 2014.
Jennings, A. R. and Son, D. Y. “Efficient synthesis and anion recognition of a colorimetric preorganized tripodal thiourea compound”, Tetrahedron Letters, 2012, 53, 2181-2184.