Bio
Colonel Michael Hyland is currently the Head of the Chemistry Department, U.S. Air Force Academy, CO. The mission of the department is to educate and mentor cadets in their development as future Air Force leaders. He leads 33 chemistry faculty and research staff, executing an $800K budget, using state of the art scientific equipment, educating over 1,400 cadets annually. He enables the staff delivering excellence in chemistry education, research and service.
Colonel Hyland obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in chemistry prior to starting his military service. He achieved his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry through the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Civilian Institution Program. Colonel Hyland entered the Air Force in 2003 through Officer Trainee School, Maxwell AFB, AL. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant May 2003. His background includes various duties in Science and Technology Acquisitions. Throughout his career he has filled a myriad of roles to include Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) Program Manager, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and positions within Air Force Research Labs (AFRL). Additionally, at Air Staff he was a Program Element Monitor (PEM) for Conventional Munitions Technologies and Hypersonic Weapon Systems. He served as the Commander of the Air Force’s sole Radiochemistry Lab at the Air Force Technical Applications Center. Colonel Hyland has also deployed to Afghanistan in Support of Operation Enduring Freedom and to Qatar in support of Operations Freedom Sentinel/Inherent Resolve.
Prior to assuming his current position, he was the Senior Operations Planner, Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, Department of Homeland Security, Washington DC.
Education
2000 Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry, Goucher College, Towson, MD
2003 Masters of Science degree in Chemistry, Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
2003 Officer Training School, Maxwell AFB, AL
2003 Air Space and Basic Course Maxwell AFB, AL
2009 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, AL
2012 Doctorate of Philosophy, PhD in Chemistry, Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
2014 Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, AL (correspondence)
2019 Air War College, Maxwell AFB, AL (correspondence)
2021 Joint Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction Planning, Fort Belvoir, VA
Professional Experience
May 2003 – May 2004, AWACS Project Manager, Airborne Warning and Control Systems Program Office, Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, MA.
May 2004 – May 2005, C2E Integration Manager, E-3 AWACS/AEW&C Systems Group, Hanscom AFB, MA.
May 2005 – May 2006, Advanced Concepts Tactical Planning Project Manager, 551st Electronics Systems Group, Hanscom AFB, MA.
May 2006 – May 2008, Instructor of Chemistry, Dean of Faculty, USAF Academy, CO.
May 2008 – July 2009, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Dean of Faculty, USAF Academy, CO.
Aug 2009 – Sept 2012, Air Force Institute of Technology/Civilian Institution, PhD Candidate, University of Connecticut, Storrs CT.
Sept 2012 – Mar 2013, Deputy Chief, Energetic Materials Branch, Munitions Directorate, Air Force Research Labs, Eglin AFB, FL.
April 2013 – Oct 2013, Counter IED-Section Chief & Certified Convoy Driver, NATO-International Security Assistance Force, Security Assistance Office, Camp Eggers, Kabul Afghanistan.
Nov 2013 – Jun 2015, Deputy Chief, Energetic Materials Branch, Munitions Directorate, Air Force Research Labs, Eglin AFB, FL.
July 2015 – Jan 2016, Chief, Aerospace Fuels Laboratory, Air Force Petroleum Agency, Al Udeid AB, Qatar.
Jan 2016 – July 2016, Director of Operations, Ordnance Division, Munitions Directorate, Air Force Research Labs, Eglin AFB, FL.
July 2016 – July 2018, Munitions Technology Program Element Monitor, Directorate of Science, Technology and Engineering, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition) (HAF), Pentagon, Washington DC.
July 2018 – July 2019, Military Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary, Directorate of Science, Technology and Engineering, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition) (HAF), Pentagon, Washington DC.
Aug 2019 – July 2021, Commander, USAF Radiochemistry Laboratory, Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC), Patrick SFB FL.
July 2021 – July 2022, Senior Operations Planner, Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, Department of Homeland Security, Washington DC.
July 2022 – Present, Head, Department of Chemistry, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs CO.
Honors & Awards
Bronze Star
Meritorious Service Medal (one oak leaf cluster)
Air Force Commendation Medal (two oak leaf clusters)
Air Force Achievement Medal
Joint Meritorious Unit Award
AF Organizational Excellence Award (two oak leaf clusters)
National Defense Service Medal
Afghanistan Campaign Medal (bronze campaign star)
Global War On Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal
Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon with Gold Border (one oak leaf cluster)
AF Longevity Service (three oak leaf clusters)
AF Training Ribbon NATO Medal
Research and Scholarly Interests
Bio-Inorganic Chemist: Interests lay in synthesizing porphyrinoid molecules that possess much altered electronic properties than what is found in naturally occurring systems. Long wavelength (near-IR range) absorbing and fluorescing chromophores promise to be of utility in the biomedical field as one- and two-photon imaging or photo-therapeutic (PDT) agents.
Publications
Liu, E.; Ghandehari, M.; Brückner, C.; Khalil, G.; Worlinsky, J.; Hyland, M. A. In Optical Phenomenology and Applications. Health Monitoring for Infrastructure Materials and the Environment; Ghandehari, M., Ed.; Springer: Heidelberg, 2018, p 195–208.
Liu E., Ghandehari M., Brückner C., Khalil G., Worlinsky J., Hyland, M. ‘Full Field Imaging of High pH Levels in Concrete’ in Optical Phenomenology and Applications. Infrastructure Materials and Health Monitoring for the Environment, Ghandehari, M., Ed., Springer: Heidelberg, 2017, Chapter 16.
Liu, E.; Ghandehari, M.; Brückner, C.; Khalil, G.; Jin, W.; Worlinsky, J.; Sidelev, A.; Hyland, M. A. ‘Mapping High pH Levels in Hydrated Calcium Silicates’ Cement Concrete Res. 2017, 95, 232–239
Hyland, M. A.; Hewage, N.; Panther, K.; Nimthong-Roldán, A.; Zeller, M.; Samaraweera, M.; Gascón, J. A.; Brückner, C. ‘Chromene-annulated Bacteriochlorins’ J. Org. Chem. 2016, 81, 3603–3618
Brückner, C.; Ogikubo, J.; McCarthy, J.R.; Akhigbe, J.; Hyland, M.A.; Daddario, P.; Worlinsky, J.L.; Zeller, M.; Engle, J.T.; Ziegler, C.J; Ranaghan, M.J.; Sandberg, M.N.; Birge R.R, ‘Oxazolochlorins. 6. meso-Arylporpholactones and their Reduction Products’, J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 6480–6494
Hyland, M. A.; Morton, M. D.; Brückner, C. ‘meso-Tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin-derived Chromene-annulated Chlorins’ J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 3038–3048
Banerjee, S.; Hyland, M. A.; Brückner, C. ‘[2-Methylazeteochlorinato]Ni(II): A Pyrrole Ring-Contracted Chlorin Analogue’ Tetrahedron Lett. 2010, 51, 4505–4508
Brückner, C.; Hyland, M. A.; Sternberg, E. D.; MacAlpine, J.; Rettig, S. J.; Patrick, B. O.; Dolphin, D. ‘Preparation of [meso-Tetraphenylchlorophinato] Nickel(II) by Stepwise Deformylation of [meso-Tetraphenyl-2,3-diformylsecochlorinato] Nickel(II): Conformational Consequences of Breaking the Structural Integrity of Nickel Porphyrins’ Inorg. Chim. Acta. 2005, 358, 2943–2953
McCarthy, J. R.; Hyland, M. A.; Brückner, C. ‘Synthesis of Indaphyrins: meso-Tetraarylsecochlorin-based Porphyrinoids Containing Direct o-Phenyl-to-ß-Linkages’ Org. Biomol. Chem. 2004, 2, 1484–1491
McCarthy, J. R.; Hyland, M. A.; Brückner, C. ‘Indaphyrin, a meso-Tetraphenylsecochlorin-Derived Chromophore Incorporating o-Phenyl-to-ß-Linkages’ Chem. Commun. 2003, 1738–1739