Brandi James received her BSc Degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from Wilmington College of Ohio in 2018 and performed research with Prof. Meinholtz in the allied health field with a hair science focus. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati under the tutelage of distinguished Prof. Anna Gudmundsdottir. During her first year in the program, Brandi focused on formulating gels in collaboration with the UC College of Pharmacy to understand the effects of cosmetic solvents on chemical sunscreen photoreactivity. Currently, her research is centered on elucidating the reaction mechanisms of organic azides upon exposure to light. Interestingly, crystalline organic azides jump, crawl, and explode. Thus, she is investigating why certain ortho-nitrophenyl azide crystals explode under visible light irradiation. This work explores the correlation between gas-releasing crystals and how the crystal lattice controls the motion of crystalline azides. 

Brandi has spent the past four summers mentoring and managing the NSF-REU program and their departmental graduate student mentors and scholars. As part of this role, she moderates panels, plans engaging student activities (within constrained budgets), and maximizes the overall student experience over the ten-week program. Brandi has also served as a mentor for the ACS Project SEED program for three consecutive summers. She has also served on the executive board of the Consortium for Cultural Diversity in Chemistry (CCDC) as the mentoring/outreach chair and co-president. The summer before starting graduate school in 2018, Brandi had the opportunity to teach high school Pre-Calculus and Chemistry (with in-class experiments and in a laboratory setting) for six weeks as a TRIO Upward Bound instructor. She has also won departmental awards at the University of Cincinnati that exude her excellence in and passion for teaching. Brandi hopes to continue her career in education by becoming a future professor at a stellar research institution. 

Brandi is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE), and the Inter-American Photochemical Society (I-APS). For fun, she enjoys teaching music to the youth at her local church and learning new songs to sing and play on the piano for herself. Brandi yearns to cultivate young STEM minds and encourage everyone to believe in themselves and never give up on their dreams.