Rate My Professor Chris Reinhard

Chris Reinhard is an Associate Professor of Biogeochemistry and Georgia Power Chair in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research in Earth Sciences centers on the biogeochemical evolution of Earth's oceans and atmosphere, planetary habitability, and strategies for carbon dioxide removal through enhanced weathering and ocean alkalinization. Reinhard employs interdisciplinary approaches, including geochemical modeling, stable isotope analysis, and field observations of modern systems to reconstruct ancient environmental conditions and explore geoengineering solutions for climate mitigation. He joined Georgia Tech as an Assistant Professor in 2014 following an O.K. Earl Postdoctoral Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology (2012-2014). Prior to his doctorate, he served as a research and teaching assistant at the University of California, Riverside. Reinhard was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020.

Reinhard earned a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of California, Riverside in 2012, an M.S. in Earth Sciences from the same institution in 2008, and a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Kansas in 2005. His seminal publications include 'The rise of oxygen in Earth’s early ocean and atmosphere' (Nature, 2014), 'Low Mid-Proterozoic atmospheric oxygen levels and the delayed rise of animals' (Science, 2014), 'Evolution of the global phosphorus cycle' (Nature, 2017), 'Evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis half a billion years before the Great Oxidation Event' (Nature Geoscience, 2014), and 'Transforming U.S. agriculture with crushed rock for CO₂ sequestration and improved regional air quality' (Nature, 2025). These works have profoundly influenced geobiology, astrobiology, and climate science. Reinhard has received the James B. Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union (2021), Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in Ocean Sciences (2015), Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award (2020), GSA Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division Pre-Tenure Award (2017), and Eric R. Immel Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching (2017). He leads major grants from the Department of Energy and USDA, serves on the NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science Steering Council, and acts as Associate Editor for Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology.