Professor Christiansen works with microstructure optimization and surface engineering of metallic materials for improving materials properties and performance. He is the director of the Center for Heat Treating Excellence (CHTE), which is a member-driven industrial center anchored at Worcester Polytechnic Institute that conducts research and development for primarily the thermal processing industry. The center focuses on heat treating and thermochemical surface engineering of metallic components – technological disciplines that are important for our modern society. Prof. Christiansen joined Worcester Polytechnic Institute in July 2023 after serving on the faculty of the Technical University of Denmark. 

Prof. Christiansen has 25 years of experience in thermochemical surface engineering and heat treatment of metallic materials. He has extensive experience with startup companies, entrepreneurship, and innovation and is the co-founder of two heat treatment companies and the co-inventor of 18 patent families. He has a keen focus on the synergistic interplay between science and technology and how this best can be exploited to provide solutions to challenges in industry.