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Kenneth Reinhard Poeppelmeier (born 6 October 1949) is the Charles E. & Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University.
After working for two years as a teacher in the South Pacific as part of the Peace Corps,Poeppelmeier completed his bachelor's degree in chemistry at the University of Missouri. Following graduation, he attended Iowa State University and in 1978 was awarded a doctorate for his work on reduced scandium halide compounds under the direction of John Corbett. He then joined Exxon Central Research and Development studying catalytic materials, until in 1984, he moved to the Northwestern University chemistry faculty. At Northwestern, his work has focused on the role of synthesis and materials design with applications in superconductivity, nonlinear optical materials, catalysis, and energy storage. From 1995-2015, he was the materials editor for the American Chemical Society journal Inorganic Chemistry.