A native of New Orleans, Dr. Ian Brauner started at Saint James School in 2017, taking over as Science Department Chair and teaching IPS, Anatomy, and Physiology. He is also Director of the SJS FAB Lab, oversees the Maker Club, and is an assistant Cross Country Coach.

Dr. Brauner is a graduate of Sewanee, where he received his BA in Psychology. After working as a researcher in pharmacology, he went on to receive his PhD in Cell Biology and Anatomy from the Louisiana State University Health Science Center in New Orleans, where in addition to doing research on the genetic control of embryonic muscle development, he also taught Anatomy to first year medical students. He taught at the Culver Academies and then at Charlotte Latin School for eight years prior to coming to Saint James.

While at Charlotte Latin, Dr. Brauner founded one of the first FAB Labs at a high school in the United States. He went through the rigorous FAB Academy, an intensive six-month course that teaches the common skill set needed to run a FAB Lab.  It is rare for a high school to have an educator with a FAB Lab certification, and Saint James is fortunate to benefit from his expertise and knowledge of the equipment and the iterative design process.

In his free time, Dr. Brauner also enjoys mountain biking, cooking, and playing the fiddle and he enjoys all of these even more when doing them with his family.