Brief CV
Below is a brief version of my curriculum vitae.
Dr. Christian Drischler
Assistant Professor
FRIB-TA Bridge Faculty
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Clippinger Laboratories 265
139 University Terrace
1 Ohio University Drive
Athens, OH 45701-2979
Academic positions
- Assistant Professor and FRIB Theory Alliance Bridge Faculty, Ohio University, 2022–present
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University (MSU), 08/2022–present
- FRIB Theory Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor, Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 2020–2022
- Feodor Lynen Research Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2019–2020
- Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2017–2019
Education
- Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D. equivalent, advisor: Achim Schwenk), Physics, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany, 2017
- M.Sc., Physics, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany, 2014
- B.Sc., Physics, Technical University Darmstadt, Germany, 2012
Research topics
My research is at the intersection of theoretical nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics, using microscopic nuclear theory and computational methods to understand strongly interacting matter, ranging from atomic nuclei to the dense matter inside neutron stars. I combine chiral effective field theory and modern many-body methods with Bayesian uncertainty quantification, fast emulators, and other AI/ML techniques to deliver robust, uncertainty-quantified predictions that connect nuclear theory to experiment and astrophysical observation.
Keywords: nuclear matter, neutron stars, chiral effective field theory, many-body methods, Bayesian uncertainty quantification, AI/ML techniques
Funding
- Senior Investigator, National Science Foundation, Physics Frontier Center Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Symmetries (N3AS), 2026–present
- Principal Investigator, U.S. Department of Energy, STREAMLINE2 Collaboration: Machine Learning for Nuclear Many-Body Systems (DE-SC0026198), 2025–present
- Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation, CAREER: Nuclear Matter from Chiral Effective Field Theory in the FRIB & Multimessenger Era (2339043), 2024–present
- Principal Investigator, U.S. Department of Energy, STREAMLINE Collaboration: Machine Learning for Nuclear Many-Body Systems (DE-SC0024233), 2023–2025
- Principal Investigator, Ohio University, startup funding, 2022–present
Fellowships and awards
- National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, 2024–present
- Inaugural FRIB Achievement Award for Early Career Researchers (Theory), Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 2021
- FRIB Theory Alliance Fellowship, Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, 2020–2022
- Feodor Lynen Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2019–2020
- Research Award, Gerhard Herzberg Foundation, Technical University Darmstadt, 2018
- DLR Graduate Program Fellowship, 2015–2017
- State of Hesse Research Award and Award of the German Statutory Accident Insurance, “Jugend forscht” (“Youth Researches”) national science competition, for the project I Beg Your Pardon? Do Musicians Really Hear Worse?, 2008
Teaching
- PHYS 2002: Introduction to Physics (spring 2026, fall 2026)
- PHYS 5071: Computer Simulation Methods in Physics (fall 2023, fall 2024, fall 2025)
- PHYS 6900: Computational Physics Summer Tutorials (summer 2023, summer 2024, summer 2025), course developed
- PHYS 8501: Research Seminar in Nuclear and Particle Physics and Journal Club (spring 2023, spring 2025)
Additional information is available on the Teaching page.
Mentoring
Current students:
- Graduate students:
- Abhinav Giri, 2025-present, working on developing active learning scattering emulators and Bayesian calibration of chiral nucleon-nucleon forces
- Yoon Gyu Lee, 2023-present, defended his dissertation Quantifying Correlated Uncertainties in Microscopic Nuclear Equation of State Calculations with Gaussian Processes on August 11, 2026
- Luigi Spreafico, 2026-present, working on many-body perturbation theory for the nuclear equation of state and single-particle energies
- Undergraduate student:
- Camden Kilton, 2026-present, working on Gaussian Process modeling of the nuclear equation of state
Former group members:
- Jane Kim, postdoctoral researcher, 2024–2025, working on active learning scattering emulators and uncertainty quantification of the low-density equation of state, now at Argonne National Laboratory
- Grace Eichler, undergraduate student, 2024–2025, HTC thesis: Sensitivity of the Neutron Star Structure on the Low-Density Equation of State Parameters
- Unish Gautam, summer graduate student, 2024, working on chiral four-body forces
- Joshua Maldonado, graduate student, 2023–2024, Master’s thesis: A Greedy Algorithm for Nuclear Two-Body Scattering (2024)
Ohio University Committees
- Department of Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Committee member, 2026–present
- Undergraduate Assessment Committee, 2025–present
- Various Search Committees, 2023-2025
- Various Master’s and Ph.D. Committees, Department of Physics & Astronomy and Mathematics Department, 2022-present
- Astronomy Outreach Committee, 2022–present
- Faculty advisor of the “Physics and Astronomy Graduate Students” (PandA GradS) student organization, 2022–present
National and International Committees
- FRIB Theory Alliance Executive Board, elected member, chair of Education and Topical Programs Committee (since 06/2026), and member of the Webpage Committee (chair since 06/2026), 2024–present
- Chair of the FRIB/NSCL Nuclear Theory Seminar Committee, 2021–2022
Community Engagement
- Invited speaker, Ohio University Science Café, presented The Strong Force Awakens: A Neutron Star Story, 2025
- NSF CAREER educational plan, “What Is…?” posters on scientific topics, featured at Public Telescope Nights at the Ohio University Observatory and at the Edwards Accelerator Laboratory lobby screen, 2024–present
- Host, Physics & Astronomy Public Telescope Nights at the Ohio University Observatory, 2022–present
Workshop and conference organization
- Session convener, “Nuclear Structure for Neutrinos and Astrophysics: Nuclear Matrix Elements for Neutrino and Dark Matter Interactions; Reaction Rates; Equation of State” at the 15th Conference on the Intersections of Particle and Nuclear Physics (CIPANP 2025), University of Wisconsin (co-conveners: I. Tews, A. McCoy), June 9–13, 2025
- Program organizer, 2024 MITP program Uncertainty Quantification in Nuclear Physics, Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics (MITP), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (co-organizers: W. Jiang, T. Miyagi, J. Sobczyk), June 24–28, 2024
Teaching at Physics Schools
- Teaching facilitator, Physics Immersion Week, a (virtual) one-week course on introducing Python and numerical methods to solve physics problems at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, organized by J. Butler and M. Hjorth-Jensen, 2021
- Teaching facilitator, Nuclear TALENT: Learning from Data–Bayesian Methods and Machine Learning, at University of York, UK; organized by Profs. C. Forssén, R. J. Furnstahl, and D. R. Phillips, 2019
Referee
Physical Review Letters, Physical Review C, Nuclear Physics A, Physics Letters B, Modern Physics Letters A, Computer Physics Communications, International Journal of Modern Physics E, Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, and The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2018–present
Professional societies
- FRIB Theory Alliance, 2021–present
- Alexander von Humboldt Network, 2019–present
- American Physical Society, 2019–present
- German Physical Society, 2009–present
Publications
The complete list and a citation summary are on my INSPIRE-HEP profile.
For a selection of my scientific publications, see the Publications page.
Talks
The complete list is available on the Talks page.