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Department of Chemistry

Susan Verberne-Sutton

Principal Senior Lecturer

Dr. Sutton joined the Department of Chemistry at Vanderbilt in August of 2014 and now serves as Principal Senior Lecturer. She teaches a variety of courses such as Introduction to Analytical Chemistry, Forensics Analytical Chemistry, and Integrated Laboratory. She actively publishes in  educational research journals focused on developing new experiments1-3and innovative methods of teaching.4,5 Dr. Sutton’s PhD research focused on producing and imaging novel nanoscale architectures and the development of a new sample stage for photocurrent measurements using scanning probe microscopy.6-9 Before joining Vanderbilt, she was chemist at a start-up electronics company, Kovio, Inc., in Sunnyvale, California, director of the Nanoscience and Biotechnology Core Facility at Tennessee State University, and analytical chemist at Environmental Science Corporation in Mount Juliet, TN. Dr. Sutton has won several mentoring awards at Vanderbilt, most recently the Provost's Outstanding Immersion Mentor (2025) for her work as faculty advisor for FirstVU, a student-led organization for first-generation/low-income students. Sutton serves as the long-range planning committee chair for the Nashville Local Section of the ACS.


Representative Publications

  1. Richardson, K.; Ratangee, B.; Locke, A.; Cliffel, D.; Verberne-Sutton, S. Elucidating false positives and negatives in point-of-care diagnostics by integrating low-cost lateral flow assays into analytical chemistry, in progress
  2. Kapp, K.; Robinson, R. S.; Verberne-Sutton, S.; Stepler, K. Student Feedback from Incorporation of a Virtual Proteomics Module into the Undergraduate Analytical Curriculum. Journal of Chem Ed, 2023 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00067
  3. Kantor, A. G.; Scherr, T. F.; Wright, D. W.; Verberne-Sutton, S. D. Incorporating lateral flow assays into undergraduate analytical chemistry lab curricula for in-person, hybrid, and remote learning formats, Journal of Chem Ed, 2022, 99, DOI:10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00088
  4. Richardson, K.; Harris, R.; McLean, J.; Robinson, R. A. S.; Anderson, K.; Verberne-Sutton, S. Uncovering the importance of peer-to-peer communication during the COVID-19 pandemic: Rotating chromatography experiments to facilitate limited student capacity, Journal of Chem Ed 2023 DOI:10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00870
  5. Bowen, R.; Picard, D.; Verberne-Sutton, S.; Brame, C. Incorporating student design in an HPLC lab activity promotes student metacognition and argumentation, Journal of Chem Ed, 2017, 95, 108-115.
  6. Verberne-Sutton, S. D.; Quarles, R. D.; Zhai, X.; Garno, J. C.; Ragains, J. R. Application of visible light photocatalysis with particle lithography to generate polyphenylene nanostructures. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2014, 136, (41), 14438-14444.
  7. Verberne-Sutton, S. D.; Zorabel M. LeJeune, Sean Hill, Jason P. LeJeune, Jayne C. Garno Nanostructures prepared by vacuum-line deposition of organosilanes through a colloidal mask Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, 36, 061601 (2018); doi: 10.1116/1.5051350
  8. Ongarora, B. G.; Hu, X. K.; Verberne-Sutton, S. D.; Garno, J. C.; Vicente, M. G. H. Synthesis and Photodynamic Activity of Pegylated Cationic Zn(II)-Phthalocyanins in HEp2 Cells, Theranostics, 2012, 2, 850-870. DOI 10.7150/thno.4547
  9. Englade-Franklin, L; Morrison, G.; Verberne-Sutton, S.; Francis, A.; Chan, J.; Garno, J. Surface-directed synthesis of erbium-doped yttrium oxide nanoparticles within organosilane zeptoliter containers, Applied Materials Interfaces, 2014, 6, 15942-15949.