Rate My Professor Christopher Johns-Krull

Christopher Johns-Krull is a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University, specializing in Space Science, where he serves as Department Chair and Chair for the On-Campus Observatory. He joined Rice in 2001 as Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2008 and Professor in 2014. Previously, he held positions as Assistant Research Physicist at the Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley (1997-2001), Postdoctoral Researcher at JILA, University of Colorado (1996-1997), and W.J. McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow at McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin (1994-1996). Johns-Krull earned a Ph.D. in Astronomy from UC Berkeley in 1994 for his thesis on Spectroscopic Variability of T Tauri Stars, an M.A. in Astronomy from UC Berkeley in 1991, and B.S. in Physics and B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989, graduating with highest honors in Physics.

His research centers on the astrophysics of lower-mass stars, encompassing star formation and early stellar evolution, solar and stellar magnetic activity, magnetic fields in cool stars and brown dwarfs, magnetospheric accretion and stellar activity in young stars, exoplanet formation around T Tauri stars, and circumstellar disks and planet formation. Key publications include "Sites of Planet Formation in Binary Systems. II. Double the Disks in DF Tau" (ApJ, 2025), "Measuring the Spot Variability of T Tauri Stars Using Near-IR Atomic Fe and Molecular OH Lines" (ApJ, 2024), "Tests of Disk-Locking in T Tauri Stars of the Orion Nebula Cluster" (ApJ, 2024), and "Twenty-Five Years of Accretion onto the Classical T Tauri Star TW Hya" (ApJ, 2023). Johns-Krull has been recognized with the Rice University Award for Excellence in University Service and Leadership (2021) and the Graduate Liberal Studies John Freeman Faculty Mentoring Award (2020). He has delivered invited talks at conferences such as the IGRINS Science Workshop (2023), Sagan Summer Workshop (2021), and numerous colloquia. As a regular referee for leading journals including Nature, ApJ, A&A, AJ, and MNRAS, and a member of the Mauve satellite science program, he significantly influences stellar and exoplanet research. Currently, he serves as interim Executive Vice President for Research at Rice University.