Christopher Still holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and conducted his postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Before coming to, he was an associate professor in the Department of Geography at UC Santa Barbara.
His research integrates modeling and measurements and has many aspects related to climate and global environmental change. This research is focused on the role of clouds in the ecological structure and function of forests, on the global biogeography and biogeochemistry of C4 grassy vegetation, and on linkages between forest carbon and water cycles at a range of spatial and temporal scales.
He and his collaborators have pioneered measurements of canopy temperature using thermal cameras deployed on flux towers across a range of forest ecosystems in the US and Panama. His research has been funded by a wide range of public and private foundations, and he has mentored over a dozen postdoctoral researchers and half a dozen PhD students, many of whom are now established researchers.
During his time at the University of Innsbruck as a Fulbright Visiting Professor in Natural Sciences, Christopher is teaching a graduate course on forest and grassland biogeochemistry and collaborating on research with faculty in the Institutes of Ecology and Botany.