Kellen is a graduate student co-mentored by Drs. McLean and Cliffel. Born in North Carolina, he did undergraduate work with Dr. Ed Wilson at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. He has a wife, Lana, and a daughter, Lucy, who was born in May 2008. He is currently developing a technique for the use of ion mobility-mass spectrometry in the analysis of gold monolayer protected clusters and other nanomaterials.

• 2007-2009 Vanderbilt University Mitchum Warren Fellowship

• K. Harkness, L.S. Fenn, D.E. Cliffel, and J.A. McLean, Analysis of Capping Structural Motifs on Thiolate-Protected Gold Nanoparticles by Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry, Analytical Chemistry (2010) in press.
• K. Harkness, D.E. Cliffel, and J.A. McLean, Characterization of Thiolate-Protected Gold Nanoparticles by Mass Spectrometry, Analyst (2010) in press.