Christopher Tunnell

Christopher Tunnell is an American astroparticle physicist, author and data scientist. He is an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, the William Marsh Rice Trustee Chair, and holds a joint faculty appointment in Computer Science at Rice University. Tunnell's research primary focus on the search for dark matter and neutrino physics. He advices Rice University as part of the AI Committee and chairs the effort related to Responsible AI.  

Early life and career

Tunnell completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, earning a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Physics in 2008. He went on to pursue graduate studies at the University of Oxford, where he obtained his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Particle Physics.

He joined the faculty of Rice University in 2018 as part of the university's Data Science Initiative and Cosmology efforts. At Rice, he established and directed the Astroparticle Lab, where his team works on dark matter detection and neutrino physics by leveraging data science, simulations, and statistical modeling.

Tunnell is a researcher and collaborator within the XENON100, XENON1T, and XENONnT experiments located at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, as well as the next-generation XLZD global project.

In 2024, Tunnell co-founded the POLONAISE experiment alongside the University of Leiden. The collaboration focuses on using quantum sensing technologies to further dark matter and precision particle-physics research using entirely new detector mechanics.

Awards and honors

He was a co-recipient of the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his contributions to the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory collaboration.

In 2021, Tunnell received the U.S. National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for research combining physics and computer science in the search for dark matter.