Christopher M. Powers

**** ******** *****, ***. ***, Villa Park, IL 60181

847-***-**** acvwc3@r.postjobfree.com

Education

Illinois Institute of Technology July 2016

Institute for Food Safety and Health Cumulative GPA: 3.8/4.00

Master of Food Safety & Technology

Specialization in Industrial Management

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign May 2013

Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology Cumulative GPA: 3.26/4.00

Minor in Informatics Dean’s List

Certifications and Skills

Microbiology: Food pathogen enumeration and identification using FDA and other recognized methods, BSL-3 pathogen handling training

Better Process Control School, FSPCA Preventive Controls for Human Food Qualified Individual, and HACCP Certificates

ISO 17043 Training, Knowledge of ISO 13528 and ISO 22117

Microsoft Office, Microsoft Project

Work Experience

Institute for Food Safety & Health/FDA, Bedford Park, Illinois April 2014-Present

Support Scientist

Prepare Microbiological and Chemical Laboratory Proficiency Tests for federal, state, and private testing laboratories as part of FDA, USDA, or CVM regulatory accreditation programs and to foster food outbreak preparedness

Manage new Proficiency Test ideas through planning, trial testing, sample preparation, shipment logistics, customer service follow-up, and report generation

Experience with enumerating and isolating bacteria from a variety of food matrices

Manage a Microbiology Laboratory by ordering supplies, maintaining equipment, and monitoring housekeeping activities

Baxter Healthcare, Round Lake, Illinois July 2013-April 2014

Research Associate

Test Quality by Design package stability program to monitor water vapor weight loss that affected 85% of company’s products

Collaborated with Statistics Department to identify outlying data and identify trends

Assist with verifying scientific reports and documenting new procedures

Troubleshoot errors and equipment malfunction to validate data results and diagnose problems

University of Illinois School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Urbana, Illinois

January 2011-May 2013

MCB Prep Staff

Prepared media and reagents prior to classes with limited supervision

Ran test experiments to validate methods and provided recommendations to improve efficiency and accuracy of results

Sligar Lab, Urbana, Illinois August 2011-May 2013

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Purified P450 proteins and ran experiments on HPLC & Spectrometry of CYP119 proteins

Analyzed Cryospectrometry data and assisted with experiments for publishing scientific reports

Designed new experiments to observe enzyme function in the presence of different substrates

Unilever HPC, Trumbull, Connecticut May 2012-August 2012

R&D Microbiology Intern

Oversaw project to discriminate the accuracy and efficiency of several microbiological phenotypic identification machines in identifying environmental pathogens

Performed preservative efficacy challenge testing on new formulations of personal care products

Recommended new machinery to be implemented in manufacturing and research sites to improve uniformity

Leadership Experience

School of Liberal Arts & Sciences

LAS 101 T.A. Intern

Led cooperative learning groups and designed own lesson plans to be implemented in a classroom of 25 students

Collaborated between peers and advisors on new methods of teaching freshman seminar topics

LIGASE, The MCB Club at the University of Illinois

President, Advertising Chair & Secretary

Organized annual Biology Open House for the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology by recruiting other organizations and planning events for students and the surrounding community in a day-long event

Generated communications to over 1,000 students, implemented new membership rules and requirements

Publications and Presentations

International Association for Food Protection Conference 2016

Microbial Inoculation of Powdered Infant Formula for Quality Assurance Studies

An Eight-Year Perspective on Analyst Proficiency in the Detection of Typical and Atypical Salmonella

Intralaboratory Evaluation and Selection of Total Aerobic and Coliform Count Methods

International Association for Food Protection Conference 2015

Accuracy and precision of analyst and method performance in testing indicator organisms in infant formula from a multi-laboratory proficiency study

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