Shad Guelph
Program Directors
Purvi Patel, BSc
Recruitment officer
Purvi (she/her) is a staff member at the University of Guelph within the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences in the Dean’s office. She learned about Shad while working with undergraduate students and became the champion behind enrolling Guelph as a Shad campus! Purvi has spent time residing between Canada and Malawi (East Africa) in her youth and chose Guelph as her home when she began studying at the university.
She is proud to have earned multiple degrees at Guelph including her undergraduate degree in Animal Biology, diploma in Veterinary Technology and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Leadership through the Lang School of Business and Economics.
Outside of work, Purvi enjoys traveling abroad, endurance sports such as running and triathlon, working with both animals and youth, and spending free summer time at the cottage.
She is looking forward to meeting all Shad program participants and sharing the gems that make up this campus and community.
Christian Schultz-Nielsen
Lab Development Specialist & Instructor, Department of Physics, University of Guelph
Christian (he/his) is excited to join Purvi Patel as a co-director for the inaugural Shad Guelph team in 2025. Christian completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees at the University of Guelph in Physics and thoroughly enjoyed opportunities to apply physics techniques to other disciplines, such as microbiology. Originally hailing from the Algonquin Park region of Ontario, Christian has spent almost 30 years living in Guelph and he can’t wait for the Shads to experience our beautiful campus and city!
Christian has 15 years experience as a lab instructor at the University of Guelph and greatly enjoys helping students achieve their educational and career aspirations. As an Outreach Liaison, Christian has worked extensively with local high school teachers to organize visits to the Guelph campus for students to do lab experiments and get a taste of the university learning environment, so Shad Guelph is a natural extension of this work. He is looking forward to the opportunity to connect with outreach specialists in various units at the University of Guelph to prepare a truly interdisciplinary program for Guelph Shad 2025!
When not working, Christian enjoys sports (soccer, tennis, cycling) and can frequently be found wandering around Guelph with his camera. He also enjoys reading and board games.
