Materials Horizons Emerging Investigator Series: Professor Linsey C. Seitz, Northwestern University, USA

Linsey Seitz joined the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at Northwestern University in 2018. She received her BS (2010) in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University, supported with a full ride scholarship. She earned her MS (2013) and PhD (2015) in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University supported as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and later as a Stanford DARE Fellow. Linsey completed postdoctoral research at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology with the Institute of Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation, supported by a Helmholtz Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her research uses tools at the interface of electrocatalysis and spectroscopy to investigate dynamic catalyst materials and reaction environments towards the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals, as well as upconversion of waste streams. Linsey was recently honored with the 2024 ACS Catalysis Early Career Award. She has received an NSF Career Award (2022), is a three-time Scialog Fellow, was recognized as a “Pioneer of the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division” of AIChE (2021), and has been named on the Northwestern University Associated Student Government Faculty Honor Roll (2022) for her outstanding mentoring. Linsey is also passionate about outreach, teaching, and learning; she strives to broaden participation and improve retention in STEM fields, foster inclusive classroom cultures, and support open discussions that build critical thinking and analysis skills.

Read Linsey Seitz's Emerging Investigator Series article ‘Synthesis and symmetry of perovskite oxynitride CaW(O,N) ₃ ( https://doi.org/10.1039/D4MH00317A ) and read more about her in the interview below:

MH: Your recent Materials Horizons Communication reports the synthesis of a novel perovskite oxynitride CaW(O,N) ₃ and characterization of its crystal structure using both X-ray and neutron diffraction. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article and where do you see your research going in future?

LS: While I am formally trained as a Chemical Engineer through my bachelor and doctoral degrees, I have always been interested in materials. Indeed, materials play a key role in many chemical engineering processes. My doctoral research focused on developing catalyst and photoabsorber materials for (photo)electrochemical water splitting to produce green hydrogen; this work opened my eyes to the depth of complexity involved in materials synthesis, characterization, and application. Before starting my independent position at Northwestern University, I pursued postdoctoral studies at the Institute of Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany to better learn how to leverage spectroscopic techniques to characterize materials, particularly when exposed to relevant conditions for their application, which may involve elevated pressure, temperature, or applied electric potentials.

As the PI of my own group now, I am thrilled to be able to bring together the depth and breadth of my previous research training and experience with an excellent team of students and scientists that have wide ranging experience and interests of their own. Research in the Seitz Lab works to advance sustainable electrocatalytic technologies by probing, understanding, and harnessing the constant change experienced by catalyst materials within these complex systems. We develop advanced experimental platforms to study materials in situ or operando, and design materials to optimize their active, dynamic forms. Moving forward, I see complementary anion and cation tuning as powerful approaches for modifying material properties and performance outcomes.

MH: What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

LS: I am most excited about pushing the bounds of material structural stability and characterizing materials as they respond to various external stimuli, which results in complex restructuring, and is often accompanied by critical performance enhancement or degradation. By understanding these complex processes and structure/function relationships, we aim to design materials that will optimally respond to environmental stimuli provided by their relevant application. In this work, specifically, we aimed to provide deep insights into the initial crystal structures and symmetry designations that we use to classify materials and understand the inherent disorder that is present in materials, even upon initial synthesis.

MH: In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

LS: As we reimagine our relationship with materials, energy, fuels, chemicals, and the processes by which we acquire or transform each of these commodities, I think it is critical to ask ourselves if we are developing emerging technologies that are truly sustainable. We must consider our use of precious metals and critical minerals, the sources of our energy, and the byproducts that are formed in the process. Along with the fundamental materials and chemistry research, it will be critical to consider holistic and agnostic system analyses to assess the positive and negative impacts of these emerging technologies as we push through this renewable energy transition.

MH: What do you find most challenging about your research?

LS: I find it most challenging to accurately measure and interpret the results of the various materials characterization techniques that we employ. With the many advances that have been made in spectroscopy and microscopy, we are so lucky to be able to apply these amazing tools to help answer our materials science questions. However, we are also finding that the “answers” are much more complex than we perhaps expected and that our data is increasingly impacted by the measurement conditions or probe species themselves. We spend almost as much time characterizing and understanding the extent of various beam-induced changes or damage as we do on understanding the impacts of desired stimuli that reflect the relevant conditions in which we would like to analyze our various materials. For a lot of our research, we work hard to design relevant in situ and/or operando reactors that enable us to optimally support conditions for our materials that are relevant to their operation, while also meeting the requirements of the characterization technique. I think this is a challenging, burgeoning, and fascinating area of development.

MH: In which upcoming conferences or events may our readers meet you?

LS: I’m planning to attend the ACS National Meeting this August, as well as the AIChE National Meeting and the ECS PRiME Meetings in October.

MH: How do you spend your spare time?

LS: I spend most of my spare time with my family, especially my young son. We like to ride bikes, go to the beach, and climb on everything!

MH: Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

LS: There are a few pieces of advice that I have found useful and tried to follow:

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. How you recover from them is what builds character, experience, and integrity.

Being wise means having more questions than answers.

Work to build strong collaborations with people who are supportive and with whom you enjoy spending time.

Lastly, if you can’t tell what you desperately need, it's probably sleep.

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