Christopher Stein

Prof. Dr. Christopher Stein is an Associate Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), leading the Professorship for Theoretical Chemistry within the Department of Chemistry at the TUM School of Natural Sciences. His research focuses on electrocatalytic processes, solvation models, and the development of electronic structure methods. He has held academic positions at the University of Duisburg-Essen and UC Berkeley, and his work is supported by prestigious awards and grants, including the NRW Return Scholarship and the ETH Medal for Outstanding Doctoral Theses.

Stein earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Chemistry from Georg-August University Göttingen, followed by a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry at ETH Zurich (2017). His postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley (2018–2021) and ETH Zurich (2018) further solidified his expertise in computational chemistry and materials science. He has received multiple teaching and research awards, including the ACS COMP Division Award for Excellent Postdocs (2020).

His research group explores energy materials, solvation models, and magnetic couplings using advanced simulation techniques like DMRG. Notable collaborations include work with Prof. Martin Head-Gordon and Prof. Markus Reiher. Stein actively reviews for journals such as Chemical Science and Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, and holds memberships in the German Physical Society, Society of German Chemists, and American Chemical Society.

Key grants and scholarships include the MKW NRW Return Scholarship (€1.25M), Swiss National Science Foundation funding, and support from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. His research bridges theoretical chemistry with practical applications in catalysis and energy systems.