Sebastian joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 2014 to conduct work on his doctoral studies under the guidance of Johannes Lercher, Director of PNNL's Institute for Integrated Catalysis and a professor in Munich, Germany, and with mentoring by Mirek Derewinski. Sebastian's work focused on understanding zeolite formation mechanisms and developing stable zeolites for aqueous phase reactions. Further research interests include zeolite applications in selective catalytic reduction reactions for exhaust gas treatments working with Feng Gao as well as microporous carbon dioxide adsorbents in collaboration with Radha Kishan Motkuri. Sebastian is part of the Chemical Transformations Initiative's catalyst design team, working on the synthesis and characterization of new electocatalysts.