Christian Seitz

Experience

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  Treasures from the Heart

  Oct 2004 - Jun 2007

  Volunteer

  - Earned a signed Presidential Award for number of community service hours- Managed cash register and answered questions from customers- Sorted through donations and placed products on shelves- Organized shelves and cleaned shelves and floors- Delighted customers by playing festive violin music during the holiday season

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  The Pendulum

  Dec 2012 - Dec 2013

  Copy Intern

  -Used AP Style guidelines to edit stories-Worked in a group to ensure all stories have proper grammar and organization-Relayed edits to appropriate supervisor-Wrote occasional freelance storiesDuring this time period The Pendulum was named the best non-daily university newspaper in the country by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

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  Elon University

  Feb 2013 - May 2016

  Fellowships:-One of 15 Elon students (sophomores only) selected through a multi-step process for the Lumen Prize, the most prestigious award for undergraduate students at Elon receiving $15,000 to support their work-One of six Elon students selected through a written application process to receive $1500 to support their research project through the Glen Raven scholarshipResearch:-Published first author manuscript in the Journal of Organic Chemistry-Computationally analyzed the contributions to the reactivity of an enolate anion due to inductive and resonance effects-Used ab initio quantum chemistry calculations using density functional theory (DFT)-Used the advanced computer program Gaussian to perform calculations-Worked through computer bugs when experiments fail to finish-Recorded all findings and processes in an official lab notebookPresentations:-Orally presented project at LIFE@Elon *invited talk*, Elon, NC (March 10, 2015), Spring 2015 ACS National Meeting, Denver, CO (March 22, 2015), SURF at Elon, Elon, NC (April 28, 2015), SERMACS/SWRM, Memphis, TN (November 7, 2015), and NCUR 2016, Asheville, NC (April 7, 2016)-Presented poster of project at SERMACS 2014, Nashville, TN (October 17, 2014), NCUR 2015, Cheney, WA (April 18, 2015), Spring 2016 ACS National Meeting, San Diego, CA (March 14, 2016), SURF at Elon, Elon, NC (April 26, 2016) and Leaders of the 21st Century, Elon, NC (May 20, 2016) Show less

  • Laboratory Teaching Assistant

    Aug 2015 - May 2016

  • Lumen Scholar Undergraduate Researcher

    Feb 2014 - May 2016

  • Chemistry Tutor

    Feb 2013 - May 2014
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  American Eagle Outfitters Inc.

  May 2013 - Aug 2013

  Sales Associate

  -Attentively met customer needs-Processed and sorted clothing shipments-Placed products on shelves and tidy displays-Stayed up-to-date on the latest sales, trends, products, and sales goals

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  RWTH Aachen University

  May 2014 - Jul 2014

  Undergraduate Researcher

  Fellowships:-Program had a ~25% acceptance rate, among the one half of program participants awarded a $3000 stipend for the summerResearch:-Worked at the prestigious Leibniz-Institut für Interaktive Materialien-Performed multi-day water-free polymer syntheses-Designed, performed and analyzed an experiment to test the how acidity affect hydrogel formation-Used a wide variety of lab instruments, including a Schlenk line, a lyophilizer, a centrifuge, a sonicator, a rotovap and a plasma machine-Analyzed results from IR, NMR and UV-vis spectroscopy, SEC chromatography and an SEM microscope-Performed rounds of screenings to optimize gelation conditions-Worked in a multi-disciplinary team involving doctorate and graduate students-Attended weekly research talks from other workers at the institute to learn about current research in other areas of the institute-Recorded all findings in an official laboratory notebookPresentations:-Orally presented project at the UROP International Colloquium, Aachen, Germany (July 25, 2014), SERMACS 2014, Nashville, TN (October 19, 2014), NCUR 2015, Cheney, WA (April 17, 2015), Spring 2016 ACS National Meeting, San Diego, CA (April 13, 2016), and SURF at Elon, Elon, NC (April 26, 2016)-Presented poster of project at the UROP International Colloquium, Aachen, Germany (July 25, 2014), at the Spring 2015 ACS National Meeting, Denver, CO (March 24, 2015) and at SURF at Elon, Elon, NC (April 28, 2015), SERMACS/SWRM 2015, Memphis, TN (November 6, 2015), and NCUR 2016 (April 9, 2016) Show less

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  RWTH Aachen University

  Mar 2015 - May 2016

  UROP International Ambassador

  -Provided promotional materials to Elon University's study abroad office-Gave presentations on the benefits of the UROP International program-Posted flyers around campus and notices on social media-Answered questions peers have about the UROP International program-Guided applicants through the application process

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  Caltech

  Jun 2015 - Aug 2015

  Amgen Scholar

  Fellowships:-Amgen Scholar at Caltech; nationwide the program acceptance rate was 7% and provided $6000 and benefits for the summerResearch:-Computationally predicted the 3D structure of olfactory receptors (ORs) OR1A1, OR1D2 and OR3A1-Tested known activators/non-activating analogs for binding to predicted OR structures-Analyzed reasons for differences in predicted binding characteristics between different ORs/ligands-Participated in the 2015 Amgen Scholar Symposium, networking with Amgen Scholars from different universities and learning about career jobs in industryPresentations:-Orally presented project at Caltech Summer Seminar Day (August 20, 2015), SERMACS/SWRM 2015, Memphis, TN (November 7, 2015) and SURF at Elon, Elon, NC (April 26, 2016)-Presented poster of project at Caltech Summer Seminar Day (August 20, 2015) and Spring 2016 ACS National Meeting (March 14, 2016) Show less

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  UC San Diego

  Sept 2016 - Nov 2022

  Fellowships:-One of 19 students across America to win a computational chemistry NSF GRFP in 2018. With an acceptance rate of ~15%, the NSF GRFP is a major national award for America's brightest predoctoral scientists.-One of three students across 10 departments at UCSD to win two years's worth of full funding through UCSD's NIH-funded Interfaces training program. The Interfaces program confers a multiscale biology PhD specialization, and fosters interdisciplinary biological research.Research:-Use computational methods to study chemical processes in viruses-Build models of influenza systems using experimental and theoretical data-Run Brownian dynamics simulations to analyze the effects of electrostatics and sterics on influenza neuraminidase inhibitor binding-Analyze how these differences vary between influenza A, H5N1 avian flu and H1N1 pandemic swine fluPresentations:Presented poster of project at Biophysical Society meeting, February 21, 2018, March 6, 2019, February 18, 2020 and February 23, 2021 Oral presentation at the UC Chemical Symposium, March 27, 2018, March 25, 2019, and March 25, 2021Poster presentation at American Chemical Society meeting, August 27, 2019, February 18, 2020 and March 28, 2023 and oral presentation on April 13, 2021 and August 25, 2021. Winner of the CCG Excellence Award for Graduate Students at the Spring 2023 ACS. Show less

  • PhD, NSF GRFP fellow in Biochemistry & Biophysics, Specialization in Multi-Scale Biology

    Aug 2016 - Nov 2022

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant

    Sept 2016 - Jun 2017
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  Elon University

  Jan 2017 - Dec 2020

  Alumni Coordinator

  Coordinator and organizer of Elon alumni events in San Diego- Pick out and plan alumni events- Promote these events via social media- Encourage alumni donations through giveaways

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  University of Chicago

  Feb 2023 - now

  Postdoctoral Researcher

  Working with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Initiative (CEPI) designing vaccines to prepare the globe for the next pandemic.