Curriculum Vitae

Summary

I am a Materials Science PhD Candidate in Caltech's Division of Engineering and Applied Science, pursuing my degree through NASA Jet Propulsion Lab's visiting student research program in the Origins and Habitability Laboratory. My current research focuses are:

Designing catalytic, microfluidic scaffolding for lab-scale simulations of hydrothermal chimneys (like those predicted to be on Ocean Worlds such as Enceladus or found in our own deep sea!)
Weathering of Venusian minerals under simulated Venus conditions! (Hot, ~464 °C | High pressure, ~90+ bars | Corrosive, 96.5% CO2, 3.5% N2, 150 ppm SO2, 70 ppm Ar, 20 ppm water, 17 ppm CO, etc...)

Beyond these, I collaborate with colleagues at JPL, Caltech, and the Royal Holloway/London Natural History Museum on are variety of materials & mineral characterization questions!

I received my Honours B.Sc. in Materials and Nanoscience from the University of Waterloo (2019) with a focus on solid-state chemistry and biomaterials. I earned my M.Sc. in Materials Science from Caltech (2023) focused on metallo-polyelectrolytes, thermochemistry, and architected electrodes. Owing to UWaterloo's unique co-op program I have four years of work experience is in a wide range of technical/R&D fields where materials considerations augment engineering solutions. Modeling work in both mechanics (modal analysis, fluid & thermal management, and material failure) and fluid/thermal dynamics offer me insight in solving problems computationally, as well as experimentally in nanofabrication, thermal management, optical materials, and polymer chemistry.

Beyond my research pursuits, I am a lively advocate for civic engagement, a policy and finance enthusiast with corporate governance experience, and a big reader. Find me riding in a neighborhood bike lane or cozy with a good book at a local wine bar/coffee shop with my brilliant partner in crime.

I am currently pursuing research, writing a few manuscripts, and being civically-engaged in my democracy!

Resume (PDF)

Learn More about Relevant Projects

Education

PhD Candidate | Caltech (2023 - Present)
JVSRP | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Origins and Habitability Laboratory
Materials Science | Division of Eng.& Applied Science | Rossman & Faber Labs

Ph.D. Candidate in the Origins and Habitability Laboratory (JVSRP) at NASA JPL, Rossman Mineral Spectroscopy Laboratory, and Faber Group.
Advisors: Dr. Laura M. Barge (JPL), Dr. Jessica M. Weber (JPL), Prof. George R. Rossman (Caltech GPS), Prof. Katherine T. Faber (Caltech EAS).
Collaborators: Dr. John-Paul Jones (JPL).

Candidacy Committee: Profs. Brent Fultz (Chair), Julia R. Greer, Karthish Manthiram, and Zhen-Gang Wang.

Grants/Fellowships: Nils Asplund FAST Prize

Masters of Science| California Institute of Technology (Caltech, 2023)
Materials Science | Division of Engineering & Applied Science | Greer Group

M.Sc. student in the Greer Lab. Research focused on 3D printed metallo-polyelectrolytes (with Seola Lee and Pierre Walker); hydrogel-derived additively manufactured metals and ceramics — metal-polymer binding affinity, thermochemical reactions & solid-state kinetics, and microstructure evolution (with Wenxin Zhang & Thomas Tran); and some additional efforts in the design, fabrication, and processing of architected Gas Diffusion Electrodes (with Yuchun Sun, Max Saccone & the Atwater Group).

Grants/Fellowships: Schwartz/Reisman Collaborative Science Program

Bachelor's of Science | University of Waterloo (2019)
Materials & Nanosciences (Honours Co-operative)
Dean's Honours List

Waterloo Dean’s Honours List
Jim Kalbfleisch Award (2019)
Distinguished Alumni of Honour Award (2019)
Adele DeLeeuw Plainfield Scholarship (2014-2018)
G. F. Atkinson Citizenship Award (2018)
Bell Labs President’s Award for Research and Presentation (2015)

Work Experience

Materials Engineering
Formlabs (September 2020 - Present)
Materials Engineering Team

- Applying novel chemistries (siloxane, silicone-acrylate, thiol-ene) for 3D printing flexible and elastic resins for potential alternatives to rubbers and silicones.
- Exploring miscibility, printability, and mechanical properties of experimental resins.
- Characterizing potential next-generation printable materials, and performing formulation print testing to refine process parameters for print reliability.

Corporate Governance / Operations & Finance
University of Waterloo (May 2016 - June 2020)
Various roles, including: VP Operations & Finance, Chair of the Board, Councillor (WUSA); UW Senate & Board of Governors' Committees

- Responsible for administration, budgeting, and controls of approximately $35M in operating and restricted funds, oversaw $2.7M in Endowed Funds, accountable for performance of 10+ businesses, and management of 40+ FT and 300+ PT staff to support operations.
- Administered and regulated student health & dental insurance plans, legal aid services, Student Assistance Program (SAP), Student Refugee Program, and the region-wide universal transit pass (UPass) program.
  - Created a legal aid service by negotiating a $1.83M contract with an external firm to provide legal representation to undergraduates.
  - Examined premium stability for insurance plans to increase mental health and optical coverage levels with marginal impact on fees.
  - Worked closely with Campus Wellness to successfully integrate a SAP to provide 24/7/365 counselling support.
  - Negotiated a $16M contract for a 5-year renewal of the UPass program, with greater fee predictability and improved service levels.
- Established $2.3M capital budget, initiated capital planning, and oversaw asset management, including facilities (ie. Student Life Centre and spaces).
- Oversaw and managed the $1.5M acquisition of the campus-wide student newspaper which had been struggling with poor financial management, optional fees fluctuations, and declining brand image.
- More information: https://wusa.ca/news-updates/leaving-wusa-better-i-found-it

Thermal Management/Chemical Engineering
Bell Laboratories, Alcatel Lucent (May - August 2018)
Thermal Management Division

- Thermal Management Co-op designing, machining, and testing Oscillating Heat Pipe (OHP) technology for commercializable electronics applications.
- Work conducted under Bell Labs & CTO Emerging Materials, Components, and Devices (EMCD) research and development division tasked with providing disruptive and sustaining innovations in fields of materials, components, and devices which provide a competitive advantage.

Materials & Optical Engineering
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (April - December 2017)
Group 383A High Contrast Imaging

- Materials and optical engineering year-round-intern in the Exoplanet Exploration Program optimizing and characterizing high-contrast, wide spectrum absorptive/reflective materials for optical instruments (ie. coronagraph masks for Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission).
- Refined fabrication processes for back-etching of thick Si wafers via deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE), photolithography, and e-beam lithography, of Starshade scale-down optical test-bed masks for New Worlds Mission.

- Developed MatLab scripts to stitch high-resolution microscope images of devices to detect micrometer defects in etching that would cause unexpected light scattering.
- Used ANSYS to model normal modes of bending for the Starshade to determine optical error budgets of the mission.
- Side-project: Participated in minor consulting and stress/vibration testing for dampening materials in the Mars Helicopter (Mars 2020).

Mode8_quadrilateral.avi

Biophysics and Nanotechnology
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering & Harvard John A. Paulson SEAS (August - December 2016)
Aizenberg Group

- Biophysics and nanotechnology engineering Co-op student developing and characterizing next-generation omniphobic slippery lubricated and superhydrophobic surfaces with applications in biofouling and deicing.
- Research explored the origins and behaviour of liquids in a variety of physical and chemical environments that give rise to liquid repellency. Focus on steady-state flow, drag forces, and wetting as well as modification of surface chemistry offered insight into the underlying physics of interaction.

Electrical and Materials Engineering
King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (January - April 2016)
Integrated Nanotechnology Laboratory

- Visiting student researcher developing wireless multi-sensory bio-electronic systems for noninvasive monitoring of marine fauna as part of the flexible Internet of Things (IoT) electronics research pursuit with INL & IDEA Laboratory.
- Supported design and development of flexible materials solutions for CMOS technology enabled fabrication and system level integration of flexible bulk silicon (100) based multi-sensors platform. Thin flexible silicon abled integration of FinFETs and sensory systems (pressure, temperature, strain and humidity) which performed under various physical deformations, demonstrating possibility in wearable IoT applications.

Thermal Management/Chemical Engineering
Bell Laboratories, Alcatel Lucent
(June - September, 2015)
Thermal Management Division

- R&D intern designing and developing two-phase liquid cooling systems for thermal management of electronics using capillary-driven evaporative cooling for passive heat removal.
- Characterized a variety of nanoporous membranes for porosity and thermal performance under forced and passive conditions.

Volunteer MNS Teaching and Lab Assistant
University of Waterloo
(August 2016 - April 2019)
Dept of Physics & Astronomy and Dept of Chemistry

TA coordinating MNS 10 Seminar lecture series with the Department of Physics & Astronomy and Department of Chemistry.
Together with other lab assistants, responsible for developing, preparing, and carrying-out of lab-training events with program faculty members. Designed labs for copper thiol fatty-acid based superhydrophobic materials, ferrofluids, liquid crystals, and others.
Established affiliation between Materials and Nanosciences Society with Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology (WIN).

Patents, Publications, & Conferences

Publications

Velling , S. J., Weber, J. M., Jones, J-P., Wertheim, A., Alian, O. M., Rossman, G. R., Barge, L. M. (2025, submitted). Porous Silica Scaffolds Enable Mechanically Robust Simulated Hydrothermal Chimney Growth.
Velling, S. J., Rodriguez, L. E., Oyala, P. H., Jones, J-P., Barge, M. L., Weber, J. M. (2024, accepted). Application of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy for Studies of Prebiotic Metals and Complexes. Metal Ions in Life Sciences (MILS), 28, ISSN: 1559-0836; e-ISSN: 1868-0402 (Editors Nitschke, W., Duval, S., Sigel, A., Sigel, H., Freisinger, E., and Sigel, R. K. O.).
Lee †, S., Walker †, P. J., Velling, S. J., Chen, A., Taylor, Z. W., Fiori, C. J., ... & Greer, J. R. (2024). Molecular control via dynamic bonding enables material responsiveness in additively manufactured metallo-polyelectrolytes. Nature Comm., 15(1), 6850. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50860-6
Saigal, A., Velling, S. J., Dhawan, A., Azcona Baez, M., Nocum, M., & R. Greer, J. (2023, June). Fabricating Machine Elements Using Hydrogel-Infused Additive Manufacturing (HIAM). In ASME Aerospace Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference (Vol. 87141, p. V001T03A007). American Society of Mechanical Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1115/SSDM2023-107356
Daniel, D., Timonen, J. V., Li, R., Velling, S. J., & Aizenberg, J. (2017). Oleoplaning droplets on lubricated surfaces. Nature Physics, 13(10), 1020-1025. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4177.
Daniel, D., Timonen, J. V., Li, R., Velling, S. J., Kreder, M. J., Tetreault, A., & Aizenberg, J. (2018). Origins of extreme liquid repellency on structured, flat, and lubricated hydrophobic surfaces. Physical review letters, 120(24), 244503. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.244503.
Nassar, J. M., Khan, S. M., Velling, S. J., Diaz-Gaxiola, A., Shaikh, S. F., Geraldi, N. R., ... & Hussain, M. M. (2018). Compliant lightweight non-invasive standalone “Marine Skin” tagging system. npj Flexible Electronics, 2(1), 13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-018-0025-1.
Gumus, A., Alam, A., Hussain, A. M., Mishra, K., Wicaksono, I., Torres Sevilla, G. A., ... Velling, S.J. ... & Hussain, M. M. (2017). Expandable Polymer Enabled Wirelessly Destructible High‐Performance Solid State Electronics. Advanced Materials Technologies, 2(5), 1600264. https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.201600264.
Nassar, J. M., Sevilla, G. A. T., Velling, S. J., Cordero, M. D., & Hussain, M. M. (2016, December). A CMOS-compatible large-scale monolithic integration of heterogeneous multi-sensors on flexible silicon for IoT applications. In 2016 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) (pp. 18-6). IEEE. doi: 10.1109/IEDM.2016.7838448.
Balasubramanian, K., Shaklan, S., White, V., Yee, K., Muller, R., Velling, S., ... & Kasdin, N. J. (2018). Recent progress in the fabrication of starshade masks for laboratory demonstration of concepts. In Proc. SPIE (Vol. 10698).
Velling, SJ. Starshade Model Analysis for Optical Error Budget Determination. Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP), NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, Internal Memorandum (CL#20-5518), 15 December 2017.

Patents

Hussain, M.M., Nassar, J.M., Sherjeel, K., Velling, S.; Compliant, lightweight, non-invasive, standalone tagging system for marine exploration and method. United States patent (pending) US 16620156 (2020 May 7); World Intellectual Property Organization WIPO-PCT/IB2018/054175 (2018 June 8); European Patent Office EP3651572 (2018 June 8).

Conferences

Walker, P., Lee, S., Velling, S., Fiori, C., Greer, J. R., & Wang, Z. G. (2024, October). Multi-Scale Understanding of the Tunable Mechanical Behavior Metallo–Polyelectrolyte Complexes. In 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting. AIChE.
Velling, S. J., Weber, J. M., Jones, J-P., Barge, L. M., Rossman, G. R., Faber, K. T. (2024, May). Development of Catalytic Porous Electrode Scaffolds for Mechanically-robust Hydrothermal Chimney Growth. In 2024 AGU - Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon). American Geophysical Union (AGU). https://agu.confex.com/agu/abscicon24/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1499378
Velling, S. J., Weber, J. M., Jones, J-P., Wertheim, A., Barge, L. M., Rossman, G. R. (2024, March). Catalytic Porous Geo-electrodes for Hydrothermal Chimneys. In the KNI20: The Kavli Nanoscience Institute's 20th Anniversary Symposium. Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI), Kavli Foundation/Caltech.
Velling, S. J., Zhang, H., Shaker, S., Greer, J. R. (2024, November). On The Development of Bio-Compatible, Chemically Recyclable, 3D-Printable Silicones. In the 2023 MRS Fall Meeting and Exhibit. Materials Research Society (MRS). https://www.mrs.org/meetings-events/presentation/2023_mrs_fall_meeting/2023_mrs_fall_meeting-3980753
Velling, S. J., Walker, P. J., Lee, S., Gallagher, C., Schulz, M., Wang, Z-G., Greer, J. R. (2023, November). Multi-Scale Chemical Insights into the Static and Dynamic Behaviour of Metallo-Polyelectrolyte Gels. In the 2023 MRS Fall Meeting and Exhibit. Materials Research Society (MRS). https://www.mrs.org/meetings-events/presentation/2023_mrs_fall_meeting/2023_mrs_fall_meeting-3980315
Klein, E., Shaker, S., Velling, S., Greer, J. (2024, November). Synthesis of Carbon electrodes via Catalytic Graphitization. In the 2023 MRS Fall Meeting and Exhibit. Materials Research Society (MRS). https://www.mrs.org/meetings-events/presentation/2023_mrs_fall_meeting/2023_mrs_fall_meeting-3980909
Lee, S., Walker, P., Velling, S., Chen, A., Wang, Z-G., Greer, J. (2024, April). Molecular Control via Dynamic Bonding Enables Material Responsiveness in Additively Manufactured Metallo-Polyelectrolytes. In 2024 MRS Spring Meeting. Materials Research Society (MRS). https://www.mrs.org/meetings-events/presentation/2024_mrs_spring_meeting/2024_mrs_spring_meeting-4009906
Greer, J. R., Lee, S., Velling, S., Zahng, W., Fiori, C. (2024, April). Intelligensia of Additively Manufactured Hierarchical Materials. In 2024 MRS Spring Meeting. Materials Research Society (MRS). https://www.mrs.org/meetings-events/presentation/2024_mrs_spring_meeting/2024_mrs_spring_meeting-4000643
Greer, J.R., Lee, S., Velling, S., Walker, P., Fiori, C., Taylor, Z., Wang, Z-G. (2023, November). Valency-Dependent In 3D-Architected Metallo-Polyelectrolyte Complexes Exhibiting Tunable Mechanical Behavior. In 2024 MRS Fall Meeting and Exhibit. Materials Research Society (MRS).
Velling, S. J., Lee, S., Walker, P. J., Fiori, C., Wang, Z-G., Greer, J. R. (2023, August). Solvated metallo-polyelectrolyte bond lability governs dynamic cross-linking of poly(acrylic acid) metallopolymer complexes (MPECs). ACS Fall 2023. American Chemical Society (ACS).
Greer, J. R., Lee, S., Saccone, M., Moestopo, M., Velling, S. (2023, April). Intelligensia of Additively Manufactured Hierarchical Materials. In 2024 MRS Spring Meeting. Materials Research Society (MRS). https://www.mrs.org/meetings-events/presentation/2023_mrs_spring_meeting/2023_mrs_spring_meeting-3852274
Yee, D., Saccone, M., Velling, S., Gallivan, R., Narita, K., Greer, J. R. (2022, November). Hydrogel Infusion Additive Manufacturing of High Entropy Alloys. SF02.11.02, 1304-1305. In 2022 MRS Fall Meeting and Exhibit. Materials Research Society (MRS).
KAUST-NSF, National Science Foundation Interactive Electronics, 2016.
Waterloo Nanotechnology Conference, www.uwaterloo.ca/wnc ,2015, 2017, 2018.
- Student Engagement Director, WNC — Coordinated and managed relationships with key partners in academia, industry, research, and government to participate in open discussions with students and alumni on topics in nanotechnology. Arranged for prestigious speakers/panelists to participate (eg. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Harvard University’s Wyss Institute). Engaged with external partners and university endowments to sponsor the conference to ensure it was successfully executed.

Other Notable Honours

Nils Asplund FAST Prize (2024-2025) - awarded to Seneca Velling, Prof. George Rossman, and Alex Wertheim for the "Additive Manufacturing, Thin-Film Characterization, and Microscopy of Hydrothermal Chimneys". https://kni.caltech.edu/programs/fast-prize/2024-nils-asplund-fast-prize
Waterloo Dean’s Honours List (graduated with Honours)
Jim Kalbfeisch Award (2019)
Distinguished Alumni of Honour Award (2019)
Adele DeLeeuw Plainfeld Scholarship (2014-2018)
G. F. Atkinson Citizenship Award (2018)
Best of Innovation Award, CES 2020. Innovation Award Product: Bluefin, MMH Labs. CES | Consumer Technology Association. https://www.ces.tech/Innovation-Awards/Honorees/2020/Best-Of/B/Bluefin.aspx
Gold Award, Edison Awards 2020. Personal technology Award: Bluefin, MMH Labs. https://edisonawards.com/winners2020.php
Bell Laboratories President's Award for Research and Presentation. Awarded for research and presentation excellence, presented by CTO and President, Dr. Marcus Weldon (2015).
2nd Place Prize in Physics and Astronomy (2013). Intel® International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), Society for Science & the the Public. Phoenix, AZ.
Semi-finalist in Physics/Chemical Engineering (2014). Siemens Competition, Siemens Science Foundation.

Technical Skills:

Statistics and research methods
Wet chemistry & sputtering
Nanofabrication (lithography (including soft and e-beam), L-Edit mask design, Ion Beam, MBE, CVD/HDPCVD, plasma etching, etc)
Chemical/Wet Etching (Si/SiN/SiO)
Semiconductor fabrication and processing (DREI/REI, XeF2 Etching, etc)
Optical & fluorescence microscopy (including DLS)
Particle size distribution and specific surface area (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method)
Electron Microscopy (SEM)/Energy Dispersive XR Spectroscopy (EDX)
X-ray characterization (XRD, XRF, SAXS/WAXS)
Atomic force microscope (AFM)
Nuclearmagnetic resonance spectroscopy (NRM), Electron Paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR), Mössbauer spectroscopy
Thin film characterization and metrology (goniometry, contact/laser/optical profilometry, and ellipsometer)

CrankShaftBikeStressing_100lbf_staticmode.mp4

Programming & Design

Excel
MatLab
Labview
CAD (Autodesk)
Layout Editor
COMSOL
FEA & CFD (ANSYS Mechanical & Fluent)
MS Dynamics NAV/BC
ChemDraw
C/C++
MS Office

Volunteer Work

Treasurer (2022-2024) & Director (2022-present) | Graduate Student Council, California Institute of Technology

Managed a $250k budget of student fees, ticket sales, and other income; managed the Budget & Finance Committee; oversaw organizational audits and tax filing; managed student club appropriations process.
Served as graduate representative on the Moore-Hufstedler Fund committee (2022-2025).
Served as member of the Caltech Institute Health Committee as graduate member (2024-2025 term).

EMS First Responder | Long Hill Township First Aid Squad/EMS (NJ Office of Emergency Management)

Emergency First Responder/EMS for local Rescue Squad, trained in blood, shock, and trauma as well as biohazards / infectious disease treatment.

Various roles | Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) & University of Waterloo

Served as Chair of the Board of Directors (WUSA) and Deputy Speaker of the Students' Council, after being (re-) elected twice by undergraduate students to one of 25 competitively elected seats.
Held the role of Chair/Vice Chair (*) or Ranking Member of following committees during three years of volunteer work while a student at Waterloo: Audit & Risk Management Committee*, Budget & Appropriations Committee*, Undergraduate Non-Tuition Fee Review Panel*, Policies & Procedures Committee*, Government Affairs & Academic Advisory Committee, President's Advisory Committee.
Member of the following committees: Co-op Students' Council, Board of Governors' Student Services Advisory Committee, Senate/Board of Governors' Undergraduate Student Relations Committee.
Student Representative for the Materials & Nanosciences (MNS) Program (Department of Physics & Astronomy and Department of Chemistry).
Treasurer of the German & Slavic Society (Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies).

Currently serving as a consultant and alumni committee member for WUSA.

Note: images and figures were created or collected by the author, and are used with permission. Rendering of New Worlds Mission courtesy of NASA JPL/Caltech. All information, technical and scientific figures, and images used with permission.

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Curriculum Vitae

Summary

Education

PhD Candidate | Caltech (2023 - Present)JVSRP | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Origins and Habitability LaboratoryMaterials Science | Division of Eng.& Applied Science | Rossman & Faber Labs

Masters of Science| California Institute of Technology (Caltech, 2023)Materials Science | Division of Engineering & Applied Science | Greer Group

Bachelor's of Science | University of Waterloo (2019)Materials & Nanosciences (Honours Co-operative)Dean's Honours List