Education & Professional History
Davidson College, BS; California Institute of Technology, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Southern California (2009-2011)
Visiting Scholar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2022)
At Carleton since 2010.
Highlights & Recent Activity
I am an inorganic chemist with research interests including subfields such as organometallic and inorganic synthesis, kinetics of chemical reactions, physical inorganic and photochemistry, and the chemistry of energy. My teaching and research interests are closely interwoven, currently focusing on projects in the following areas:
- Elucidation of new mechanisms for transforming small molecules (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, dinitrogen, alkanes, etc.) using reactive metal complexes featuring metal/silicon (and other metal/main-group) bonds
- Development and testing of new tools and techniques for teaching general and inorganic chemistry (done in collaboration with the Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists)
- Development of resources and modules for incorporating X-ray crystallography into the undergraduate curriculum
- Implementation and evaluation of course-based research experiences across many fields, with a focus on inorganic chemistry; several years ago, I led a study group on student research experiences in the Carleton STEM curriculum, and I recently implemented a new “Chemistry Research” course (Chem 300). I am particularly interested in how students develop and articulate “adaptive expertise” through undergraduate research experiences.
I maintain strong interests in faculty development and mentoring and have been involved in local and national efforts in this area; I am also committed to implementing and testing (and helping others implement and test) evidence-based, inclusive pedagogies in the classroom and laboratory. My passions for student/faculty collaborative research and developing authentic and well-integrated interdisciplinary connections (within and outside STEM fields) feed into my current roles as Chemistry Department Chair and Director of Carleton’s Integrated STEM Program.
Recent Awards and Recognition
- Featured author in ACS Virtual Select Issue: “Undergraduate Research: Contributions to Organometallic Chemistry”
- Cottrell Scholar
- Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar
- “New Talent: Americas” (Dalton Transactions)
- NSF-CAREER Awardee
Recent Grants
- ACS Petroleum Research Fund Undergraduate Research Award (2025–2028)
- NEH Humanities Connections – “Curricular-Bridge Courses Between Humanities & STEM Fields” (2024–2025)
- NSF-CHE – “RUI: CAS-SC: Promoting Group-Transfer Reactions at Metal/Main-Group Bonds” (2023–2026)
- NSF-CHE – “ROA: Cation-Controlled Catalysis with Pincer-Crown Ether Complexes” (2022, w/ PI Prof. Alex Miller, UNC-Chapel Hill)
- NSF-CHE – “Chemistry Early Career Investigator Workshop” (2018, co-organized w/ Prof. Gordana Dukovic, CU-Boulder)
- NSF-CAREER Award (2016–2023, funded through the SusChEM initiative)
Professional Interests
- adaptive expertise, admissions, catalysis, chemistry of energy, course-based research experiences, crystallography, faculty development and mentoring, financial aid, fundraising, grant writing, inorganic chemistry, inorganic photochemistry, organic chemistry, organic materials, organometallic chemistry, science policy
Organizations & Scholarly Affiliations
- American Chemical Society (Divisions of Inorganic Chemistry, Fluorine Chemistry, and Chemical Education)
- Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists (IONiC)
- Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR)
- Cottrell Scholars Collaborative
Current Courses
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Fall 2024
CHEM 294:
Directed Research in Chemistry
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CHEM 394:
Directed Research in Chemistry
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Winter 2025
CHEM 124:
Principles of Chemistry I with Problem Solving and Lab
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CHEM 294:
Directed Research in Chemistry
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CHEM 394:
Directed Research in Chemistry
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Spring 2025
CHEM 294:
Directed Research in Chemistry
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CHEM 394:
Directed Research in Chemistry
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Spring 2026
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CHEM 352:
Laboratory in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry
My research program aims to develop new molecular transformations with applications in energy and organic synthesis. We focus on synthetic and mechanistic studies of transition-metal complexes featuring unusual interactions with heavier main-group elements (especially silicon), with the goal of understanding how metals and metalloids can work in synergy to activate and transform Nature’s strongest chemical bonds. Our recent work has elucidated new mechanisms for transforming carbon dioxide and ethylene, which are ubiquitous feedstocks, at metal/silicon single and double bonds.
Research in the Whited lab is propelled by Carleton undergraduates (typically 4-8 at a time, 47 students since 2011!) during the summer and academic year. Students employ a wide range of techniques from air-sensitive synthesis to analysis by NMR and X-ray crystallography to theory and computation. They have gone on to everything from fields closely related to our work (industrial and consumer products at Dow or Procter & Gamble) to fields far from our research (software engineering, intellectual property law), and much in between.
Check out the Whited Research Group page to learn more about out research projects and recent results!
I teach an array of courses covering introductory, organic, and inorganic chemistry, as well as lab-based courses in spectroscopy and kinetics. I am particularly passionate about helping students engage with the chemical primary literature, make connections between classes, and deal with complexity and ambiguity in the laboratory and the classroom. I have worked to bring authentic research experiences into Chemistry courses both as modules and term-long projects; an ongoing project in this area involves collaboration with the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton to explore how students develop and articulate “adaptive expertise” through undergraduate research experiences. All these projects are conducted with an eye toward implementing evidence-based, inclusive pedagogies in the classroom and laboratory.
I maintain strong interests in faculty development and mentoring and have been involved in local and national efforts in this area, such as running an early-career faculty workshop with funding from NSF-CHE. I furthered these interests during the 2020-21 academic year by serving as a Fellow of the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching at Carleton, and I am continuing faculty development work in the sciences and mathematics in my role as STEM Director.
Current Courses
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Fall 2024
CHEM 294:
Directed Research in Chemistry
-
CHEM 394:
Directed Research in Chemistry
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Winter 2025
CHEM 124:
Principles of Chemistry I with Problem Solving and Lab
-
CHEM 294:
Directed Research in Chemistry
-
CHEM 394:
Directed Research in Chemistry
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Spring 2025
CHEM 294:
Directed Research in Chemistry
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CHEM 394:
Directed Research in Chemistry
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Spring 2026
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CHEM 352:
Laboratory in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry
Since 2020 (undergraduate co-authors are underlined)
- Acosta-Calle, S.; Huebsch, E. Z.; Kolmar, S. S.; Whited, M. T.; Chen, C.-H.; Miller, A. J. M. M. “Regulating Access to Active Sites via Hydrogen Bonding and Cation-Dipole Interactions: A Dual Cofactor Approach to Switchable Catalysis” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 16.
- Wei, W.; Ma, J.; Schaab, J.; Brooks, J.; Kang, S.; Whited, M. T.; Djurovich, P. I.; Thompson, M. E. “A Comparison between Triphenylmethyl and Triphenylsilyl Spirobifluorenyl Hosts: Synthesis, Photophysics and Performance in Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes” Molecules 2023, 28, 5241.
- Whited, M. T.; Han, W.; Jin-Lee, H.; DiNardo, Z.; Watson, E.; Zhang, J.; Kohen, D. “Cobalt Silylenes as Platforms for Catalytic Nitrene-Group Transfer by Metal-Ligand Cooperation” Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202205748 (“Hot Paper”).
- Whited, M. T. “Pincer-Supported Metal/Main-Group Bonds as Platforms for Cooperative Transformations” Dalton Trans. 2021, 50, 16443–16450 (invited Perspective article).
- Whited, M. T.; Ball, M. A.; Block, A.; Brewster, B. A.; Ferrer, L.; Jin-Lee, H. J.; King, C. J.; North, J. D.; Shelton, I. L.; Wilson, D. G. “Crystal structures of phosphine-supported (η5-cyclopentadienyl)molybdenum(II) propionyl complexes” Acta Crystallogr., Sect. E: Crystallogr. Commun. 2021, 77, 912–918.
- Whited, M. T.; Zhang, J.; Conley, A. M.; Ma, S.; Janzen, D. E.; Kohen, D. “Bimetallic, Silylene-Mediated Multielectron Reductions of Carbon Dioxide and Ethylene” Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 1615–1619.
- Anstey, M. R.; Bost, J. L.; Grumman, A. S.; Kennedy, N. D.; Whited, M. T. “Crystal Structures of trans-Acetyldicarbonyl(η5-cyclopentadienyl)(1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane)molybdenum(II) and trans-Acetyldicarbonyl(η5-cyclopentadienyl)(3,7-diacetyl-1,3,7-triaza-5-phosphabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane)molybdenum(II)” Acta Crystallogr., Sect. E: Crystallogr. Commun. 2020, 76, 547–551.
- Whited, M. T.; Taylor, B. L. H. “Metal/Organosilicon Complexes: Structure, Reactivity, and Considerations for Catalysis” Comm. Inorg. Chem. 2020, 40, 217–276 (Invited Contribution).
