Rate My Professor Chris Reinhard

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.