Professor Chris Johnson has a variety of interests in the broad area of environmental chemistry. Much of his work involves the study of forest soil chemistry. He is actively involved in research on the chemistry of natural organic matter, which plays an important role in soil fertility, trace metal transport, and the acid-base status of soils and natural waters. He is particularly interested in the characterization of organic matter using advanced analytical tools such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, liquid chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis.
Professor Johnson is also involved in the interdisciplinary study of biogeochemical cycles at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. He has ongoing research interests in the fate of trace metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni) in forest soils and landscapes; the effects of clear-cut logging on soils and drainage waters; and the changing acid-base chemistry of soils historically affected by acid rain. He is involved in an ambitious long-term project in which wollastonite, CaSiO3, was added to an entire watershed at Hubbard Brook in an attempt to replace Ca leached from the soil by acid rain. He has also conducted work on soil and water chemistry in the Adirondacks and the Catskills Mountains.
Chris Johnson holds bachelors (Civil Engineering), masters (Statistics), and Ph.D. (Geology) degrees, all from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi, and was a Fulbright Scholar in the Czech Republic in 1994. A full-time faculty member of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Syracuse University, Dr. Johnson teaches courses in environmental chemistry, soil chemistry, environmental data analysis, and surveying. He has been an associate editor for the Soil Science Society of America Journal and the Journal of Soils and Sediments.