{"id":129821,"date":"2021-12-03T21:03:17","date_gmt":"2021-12-04T02:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-475766"},"modified":"2024-03-05T09:39:06","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T14:39:06","slug":"nasa-astronaut-christopher-l-williams","status":"publish","type":"people","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/people\/nasa-astronaut-christopher-l-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Astronaut Christopher L. Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-bio-intro maxw-full width-full padding-y-6 padding-x-3 hds-module hds-module-full wp-block-nasa-blocks-bio-intro\">\n\t<div class=\"hds-bio-intro-container grid-row grid-container grid-container-block padding-0\">\n\t\t<div class=\"grid-col-4 desktop:grid-col-3\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"hds-bio-thumbnail width-10 tablet:width-card desktop:width-card-lg\">\n\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"hds-media-background  \"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?w=640\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"Astronaut Candidate Christopher Williams\" style=\"transform: scale(1.2); transform-origin: 46% 7%; object-position: 46% 7%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg 5869w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?resize=240,300 240w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?resize=768,960 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?resize=819,1024 819w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?resize=1229,1536 1229w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?resize=1638,2048 1638w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?resize=320,400 320w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?resize=480,600 480w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?resize=720,900 720w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?resize=960,1200 960w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut-candidate-chris-williams.jpeg?resize=1600,2000 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"grid-col-7 desktop:grid-col-9 grid-row margin-0 padding-0\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"grid-col-12 desktop:grid-col-8 margin-bottom-2 desktop:margin-bottom-0\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"margin-bottom-1 desktop:margin-bottom-2\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"display-60 display-block width-full\">NASA Astronaut Christopher L. Williams<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"p-lg padding-0 margin-0 color-carbon-60\">NASA Astronaut<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"grid-col-12 desktop:grid-col-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"margin-bottom-1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"heading-18\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow Christopher\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"social-icons social-icons-monochrome\"><li class=\"social-icon social-icon-twitter social-icon-x\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Astro_ChrisW\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Follow Christopher on X.\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg width=\"1200\" height=\"1227\" viewBox=\"0 0 1200 1227\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M714.163 519.284L1160.89 0H1055.03L667.137 450.887L357.328 0H0L468.492 681.821L0 1226.37H105.866L515.491 750.218L842.672 1226.37H1200L714.137 519.284H714.163ZM569.165 687.828L521.697 619.934L144.011 79.6944H306.615L611.412 515.685L658.88 583.579L1055.08 1150.3H892.476L569.165 687.854V687.828Z\" fill=\"white\"\/><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Christopher L. Williams, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Chris Williams was selected by NASA to join the 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class. He graduated from Stanford University (Palo Alto, California), with a bachelor\u2019s degree in physics in 2005 and earned a doctorate in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts) in 2012, where his research was in astrophysics. Williams is a board-certified medical physicist, completing his residency training at Harvard Medical School (Boston, Massachusetts), before joining the faculty as a clinical physicist and researcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Personal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Born in New York City, Williams considers Potomac, Maryland, to be his hometown. He is married to Aubrey Samost-Williams, originally of North Reading, Massachusetts, and they have two daughters. Williams\u2019 parents are Roger Williams and Ginger Macomber of Potomac. He enjoys hiking, camping, cooking, and traveling. He is also a private pilot and Eagle Scout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Graduated from Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland, in 2001. Earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in physics from Stanford University in 2005 and a doctorate in physics from MIT in 2012. Completed residency training at the Harvard Medical Physics Residency Program in 2015<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time of his selection, Williams was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as a medical physicist in the Radiation Oncology Department at the Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital, Boston, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He was the lead physicist for the Institute\u2019s MR-guided adaptive radiation therapy program. His research focused on developing new image guidance techniques for cancer treatments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Williams\u2019 doctoral research at MIT was in astrophysics, focusing on developing radio telescope instrumentation and data processing techniques for cosmology.  He was part of the team that built the Murchison Widefield Array, a low-frequency radio telescope array in Western Australia designed to study the epoch of reionization of the early universe. During high school and college, Williams worked at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C., studying supernovae using the Very Large Array radio telescope. He has also served as a volunteer emergency medical technician and firefighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NASA Experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Williams was selected as a NASA astronaut candidate in December 2021 and reported for duty in January 2022 to complete two years of initial astronaut training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Awards\/Honors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Eagle Scout, MIT Bruno Rossi Fellowship (2006), Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship (2006), American Astronomical Society Beth Brown Memorial Award (2009); Brigham Research Institute Innovator Award (2017)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Organizations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher L. Williams, Ph.D. Summary Chris Williams was selected by NASA to join the 2021 Astronaut Candidate Class. He graduated from Stanford University (Palo Alto, California), with a bachelor\u2019s degree in physics in 2005 and earned a doctorate in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts) in 2012, where his research was in [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":130840,"template":"","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_people_facebook_url":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_people_twitter_url":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Astro_ChrisW","nasa_hds_core_meta_people_instagram_url":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_people_linkedin_url":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_people_title":"NASA Astronaut"},"categories":[2800,10945],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[4944,10472,3879],"coauthors":[10423],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"WebPage","headline":"NASA Astronaut Christopher L. 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Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Rachael Whitefield\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":2,"featured_image":{"id":130840,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/astronaut_candidate_chris_williams.jpg","title":"astronaut_candidate_chris_williams","alt":"Astronaut Candidate Chris Williams","caption":"Astronaut Candidate Individual Portrait, Chris Williams - ASCAN Class of 2021.  Photo Date: December 3, 2021.  Location: Building 8, Room 183 - Photo Studio.  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