Rate My Professor Margaret Braasch-Turi

At Fort Hays State University, Dr. Braasch-Turi leads a research group dedicated to synthetic organic chemistry, particularly the development of hydrophobic vanadium complexes with anti-cancer potential. Her team synthesizes compounds such as VO(HSHED)(dtb), where HSHED denotes N-(salicylideneaminato)-N'-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1,2-ethanediamine and dtb is 3,5-di(tert-butyl)catechol. These efforts facilitate collaborations with researchers at Colorado State University for chemical analysis and the University of Sydney for biological assays against cancer cell proliferation. Planned investigations include integrating chiral terpenes, flavonoid derivatives, and catechol-cycloalkane fused ring systems to optimize ligand properties. Dr. Braasch-Turi teaches courses such as Organic Chemistry (CHEM 304, 340, 342) and General Chemistry II (CHEM 114), mentoring students through research projects presented at events like the 2024 Scholarly Activities Conference. She contributes to university service on Provost Standing Committees and as K-INBRE faculty, promoting biomedical research excellence. Her emphasis on laboratory safety draws from graduate training involving role-playing simulations of lab accidents to improve emergency responses.