John Andrew Christie '10
Mathematics and Chemistry Double Major
Graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana
Current projects
We're making mixed-valence ferrocene based molecular switches for quantum cellular automata (QCA). The hope is that in the future QCA technology can replace current complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Collaborators include theoreticians, electrical engineers, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) specialists.
Undergraduate Research
Apart from the capstone projects for each major, I was active in Dr. Gron's undergraduate research lab for a year and two summers and in Dr. Goodwin's undergraduate research lab for a semester
How Hendrix prepared me for success
My experiences in undergraduate research labs gave me an appreciation for the time required doing desk work such as data analysis and reading journal articles.
Future plans
Apart from obtaining my PhD, my future plans or aspirations include finding a role/job in "industry" to gain a broader vision of how chemistry makes it from the lab to the public. After a while, I'd like to settle down in an academic position.
My advice
If you're interested in science, get in a lab as quickly as you can. Also, in my experience a lot of the core classes are either retaught or touched up on in graduate school, so feel free to explore electives outside of your preferred field while you have the chance.