Meet Our Faculty: Dr. Valerie Shelton

Meet Dr. Valerie SheltonChemistry professor Valerie Shelton smiles at the camera. She is standing in front of a wall poster with the periodic table of elements and wearing a green dress printed with the periodic table.

Professor of Chemistry, School of STEM and Professional Studies

Faculty member since 2011
vmshelton@csmd.edu

Courses Taught

  • Introductory Chemistry

  • General Chemistry I & II

  • General Chemistry for Engineers

  • Organic Chemistry I & II

About 

I am originally from Mississippi, but I have lived in Maryland for 25 years. In addition to my teaching career at CSM, I have 20 years of professional experience in naval operations research, pharmaceutical development, and small business operations. I began teaching as adjunct faculty in workforce development. I loved it so much that I decided to teach full time, but in the field of my academic studies, chemistry.

Educational Background 

I completed my Bachelor of Arts of Chemistry at Gustavus Adolphus College, a liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota. I completed a master’s degree in norganic chemistry at State University of New York, Buffalo, then took a five-year break from academia to work in the pharmaceutical industry.
After returning to school, I earned a doctorate in organic chemistry at the University of Chicago, where my dissertation focused on the thermodynamics of ribonucleic acid (RNA) folding.

Q&A

Learning chemistry involves much more than memorizing facts, algorithms, reactions, or functional groups.

It requires students to develop abilities that are essential for all scientists: solving problems, acquiring knowledge, and developing scientific models to explain their observations.

Students not only need to be able to use the language and symbolism of chemistry to visualize and understand what is happening at the molecular level; they need to be able to explain how and why they arrived at a solution to a given problem.

My role is to be both a subject matter expert and a supportive facilitator. My classroom is a place where it’s okay for students to think out loud, make mistakes, and work together to learn how to think like chemists.

I am obsessed with dragon boating! During the spring and summer months, you can find me on the Anacostia River three days a week, paddling a dragon boat (a giant canoe that seats 20 paddlers, a drummer, and a steerer). 

Dragon boat racing originated in southern China over 2,000 years ago as a folk ritual to ward off evil water spirits. Now, it has evolved into an international competitive sport. I race with GoPink!DC, a breast cancer survivor/supporter team, and we typically race in five or six dragon boat regattas a year. 

Chemistry is fun! But it's not the easiest subject to learn, so I try to create a safe environment for students to learn and ask questions. My classes are interactive and relevant to current, real-life topics and global concerns. I use case studies like the UN's sustainable development goals, the Flint water crisis, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and drug addiction to engage students and encourage them to develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will benefit them throughout their future careers and in everyday life. 

  • Shelton, V. M., Sosnick, T.R., and Pan, T. "Altering the intermediate in the equilibrium folding of the unmodified yeast tRNAPhe by monovalent and divalent cations." Biochemistry, 2001.

  • Shelton VM, Sosnick TR, & Pan T. "Applicability of urea in the thermodynamic analysis of secondary and tertiary RNA folding." Biochemistry, 1999.

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Last updated: 7-17-26

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