About
Materials Chemist & Cheminformatician.
- Degree: PhD in Chemistry ('22)
- Company: Corteva Agriscience
- Role: Cheminformatics Engineer
- Email: jack.sundberg@corteva.com
- Phone: +1 (814) 528 6027
- City: Indianapolis, IN
- Birthday: April 30th 1995
- Github: @jacksund
- Google-Scholar: view articles
Quick-Info
Materials chemist and data scientist with specialties in materials discovery, ab-initio simulations, and database architectures. As I've progressed through academic research, I've worked primarily in experimental laboratories, and during my PhD research, I discovered a passion for guiding research with computational analyses and for creating materials science software that emphasize beginner-friendly guides and use. Looking forward, I hope to take my broad range of experiences and apply what I've learned to new and unfamiliar fields – driving the development of tools for data-driven research and beyond!
Years Lab Experience Organic & Materials synthesis, characterization, and simulation
Published Articles featured in JACS, NPJ Comp Mater, Chem Mater, J Phys Chem Lett, and others
Years Developing Software ETL workflows, Front/Backend Frameworks, REST/GraphQL APIs, 3D modeling, and more
Open-source packages contributed to: Simmate, Prefect, PyMatGen (+addons), MatMiner, Pdoc, and others
Skills Overview
Chemistry
Programming
Dev Ops, Cloud, & Clusters
Skills Detailed
Note: I recommend visiting my Simmate repository, which showcases the use of many skills and packages listed below.
Computational Chemistry.
- Core libraries: PyMatGen, ASE, RDkit
- Simulations: VASP, Materials Studio (CASTEP), LAMMPS, OpenEye
- Evolutionary Algorithms: USPEX, CALYPSO
- Machine Learning: MatMiner, DeepMD, Scikit-learn
- Workflow Libraries: Atomate, Fireworks, Custodian
- APIs: OPTIMADE, Materials Project, COD, AFLOW, OQMD, JARVIS
Experimental Chemistry.
- Synthesis: >1000°C furnaces, CVD, ALD, Arc Melting, Quartz Welding, Schlenk lines, Chromatography
- Characterization: XRD, Raman, SEM, AFM, TEM, NMR, IR, MassSpec
- Extras: Mass-flow, Vacuum, & Pressure control systems
General Software Stack.
- Data analysis + utilities: pandas, dask, numpy, numba, matplotlib, plotly
- CLI: click, argparse, python-fire
- ETL Workflows: Prefect, Fireworks, AirFlow
- Website Frameworks: Django, Flask+Jinja+SQLAlchemy
- Databases: SQLite, Postgres, MongoDB
- APIs: Django-REST Framework, Graphene (graphql)
- Front-end CSS and 3D: Bootstrap, Three.js, Verge3D
- 3D Modeling: Blender, VTK
- CI: pytest, black, coverage, GithubActions
- Cloud: docker, kubernetes, helm
Resume
Download as PDFEducation
PhD in Chemistry
2017 - 2022
University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC)
Dissertation (2022): "A New Framework for Material Informatics and It's Application to Electride-Halide Material Systems" (PENDING)
2nd-year Thesis (2019): "High-throughput Prediction and Stabilization of Electride-Halide Material Systems" (pdf)
NSF-GRFP Proposal (2018): "Understanding principles of phase stability for experimental synthesis of 2D electrides" (pdf)
BS in Chemistry
2013 - 2017
Denison University (Granville, OH)
Cumulative GPA: 3.84 | Major GPA: 3.84
Senior Thesis: "Synthesis of tetrasulfonated calix[4]arenes designed for carbon-nanotube grafting and acetylcholine sensing" (pdf)
400-level Chemistry Topics: Sustainable Energy, NMR, Organometallics
Elective Focuses: Business Management (Macro Economics, Accounting, Finance Proofs) and Computer Science (Data & Dynamics, 3D-printing)
Professional Experience
Cheminformatics Engineer
2023 - Present
Corteva Agriscience (Indianapolis, IN)
Details: My work is just getting started here! Reach out if you'd like an update on what I'm working on.
Doctoral Research (Materials Chemistry)
2017 - 2022
Prof. Scott Warren
University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC)
Details: Performed a combination of experimental and computational research, which included building a custom chemical vapor deposition system that enabled synthesis of ultra-reductive materials. Thesis focuses on computational studies and software development, where my predictions led to the proposal and completion of several experimental projects. In addition, my work culminated in the development of Simmate, which is a workflow & database framework for materials science that initiated collaborations with several academic and national labs – such as the Materials Project and OPTIMADE organizations.
Student Research (Organic Chemistry)
2015 - 2017
Prof. Jordan Fantini
Denison University (Granvillue, OH)
Details: Full-time research during the summers of 2015 & 2016. Credit-hour based research during Spring & Fall semesters of 2015-2017. Became fully independent and proficient in wet synthesis under inert conditions and in purification/characterization of products.
Aquatic Center & Swim Coach
2010 - 2014
Concessions ('10-11) → Lifeguard ('12-14) → Assistant Swim Coach ('13-14)
Kahkwa Club Aquatic Center (Erie, PA)
Details: Progressed through roles of increasing responsibility and certification. Demonstrated leadership skills while being 1 of 4 assistant coaches for a team of ∼150 swimmers (aged 6 through 17 years old).
Awards
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Doctoral Research Fellowship (2019)
Woodland Prize
Award for Excellence in Chemistry Research (2017)
E. Stanley Mellick Scholarship
Award for Excellence in Physical Sciences (2016)
Denison Founders Scholarship
Undergraduate Merit Scholarship (2014)
K.I. Brown Scholarship
Undergraduate Merit Scholarship (2013)
Publications
Assessing ternary materials for fluoride-ion batteries
- D.H. McTaggart, J.D. Sundberg, L.M. McRae, S.C. Warren
- Nature Scientific Data 2023
Simmate: a framework for materials science
- J.D. Sundberg, S.S. Benjamin, L.M. McRae, S.C. Warren
- Journal of Open-Source Software 2022
- Featured by: Endeavors
High-Throughput Discovery of Fluoride-ion Conductors via a Decoupled, Dynamic, and Iterative (DDI) Framework
- J.D. Sundberg, D.L. Druffel, L.M. McRae, M.G. Lanetti, J.T. Pawlik, S.C. Warren
- NPJ Computational Materials 2022
- Featured by: Chemistry World & Chemistry Views
Sc2C, a 2D Semiconducting Electride
- L.M. McRae, R.C. Radomsky, J.T. Pawlik, D.L. Druffel, J.D. Sundberg, M.G. Lanetti, C. Donley, K. White, and S.C. Warren
- JACS 2022 (& ChemRxiv 2021)
- Featured by: C&EN & C&EN's Molecule of the Year ('22)
First-Principles Prediction of Electrochemical Electron–Anion Exchange: Ion Insertion without Redox
- D.L. Druffel, J.T. Pawlik, J.D. Sundberg, L.M. McRae, M.G. Lanetti, and S.C. Warren
- Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 2020
- Featured by: Chemistry World
Synthesis and Electronic Structure of a 3D Crystalline Stack of MXene-Like Sheets
- D.L. Druffel, M.G. Lanetti, J.D. Sundberg, J.T. Pawlik, M.S. Stark, C.L. Donley, L.M. McRae, K.M. Scott, and S.C. Warren
- Chemistry of Materials 2019
Bonding in 2D Donor–Acceptor Heterostructures
- A.H. Woomer, D.L. Druffel, J.D. Sundberg, J.T. Pawlik, and S.C. Warren.
- Journal of American Chemical Society 2019
Conferences
GRC: Solid State Chemistry (2022)
- Talk & Poster: "Simmate: A Framework and Toolbox for Materials Discovery and Its Application toward Fluoride-ion Conductors"
Materials Research Society (2022)
- Talk 1: "High-Throughput Discovery of Solid-State Fluoride-Ion Conductors and Generalized Heuristics for Ion Transport"
- Talk 2: "Simmate: A Framework and Toolbox for Materials Discovery and Its Application in the High-Throughput Search of Fluoride-Ion Conductors"
Machine actionable data for chemical sciences (2022)
- Panel Discussions: Schemas, Ontologies & Vocabularies.
Open Databases Integration for Materials Design (2021)
- Talk: "Standardized Local Endpoints for Stable & Efficient Clients."
Materials Research Society (2019)
- Poster: "High-throughput Evaluation of Thin-film Stabilization towards 2-D Electrides"
References
Below is a list of professors that have kindly agreed to serve as my personal references and allowed me to share their contact information. Feel free to contact them directly!