Since September 2020, Constantin Buyer managed the social media accounts of the Young Crystallographers, which is why we already introduced him in an earlier version of „Meet the People“. In this position, he posted information about nice online lectures, online conferences and similar things on Xing, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Constantin is a doctoral student in the working group of Prof. Thomas Schleid, Inorganic Chemistry, Stuttgart. Until now he visited four conferences of the DGK (Essen, Leipzig, Breslau, Hamburg) and the Joint Meeting together with the Young Crystal Growers (jDGKK) in Cologne. He also didn‘t miss any of the Digital Pub Meetings.
At the virtual DGK (organized by DESY, Hamburg) Constantin was voted the new chair of the Young Crystallographers and Thomas Schleid is now the elected chairman of the DGK board. Their combined efforts will certainly be a win for the DGK!
Today you will learn about Constantin‘s future plans! And in an upcoming post, we will introduce Thomas Schleid and his new tasks to you.
What motivated you to become the next Co-Chair?
During my time as social media manager, I decided that the two years of being a (co)chair of the YC would fit very well to my plan to get finished with my doctoral study. When Jan Philipp Wöhrle‘s two years came to an end I thought it would be nice to be the new person in the chair position. As the new co-chair I want to keep the Young Crystallographers as active as they currently are. I was very happy with the work of Jan Philipp Wöhrle and Tina Weigel and hope I can be a good successor in the chair-team.
Now that my old position is free, somebody new can fill it and get more into contact with the team.
Are there any works/activities you are especially excited about in your new function?
Many exciting things are waiting for me now. In general, I want to help doctoral students to get in contact with each other or with the industry to learn more about science and to grow their network and get better chances to find a job later. Thatswhy we established the ResearchGate account. We hope that this platform for exchange would grow on its own as many scientists already have accounts there and the networking should be easy.
Further, I hope that I can recruit more young scientists to the DGK. With the new chairman of the DGK board Thomas Schleid, who is my doctoral father (to be), I think I can also grow the network between doctoral students and professors.
Additionally, at the virtual conference, the YC established a new student price, whose committee also comprises the chairs of the YC. I am looking forward to work in the procedure to find the future winners.
And finally, I am excited and looking forward to chairing the Lightning Talk Sessions at the next DGK conference next year in Munich together with Tina Weigel.
How do you want others to remember you as a co-chair?
I would be happy if the crystallographers remember me, as the active, lanthanoid-solid state-chemist from Stuttgart, who helped them to grown their scientific network.