Chris Jones

Author, 2022 Nominee for Arkansas Governor, Girl Dad, Innovator, Rocket Scientist

Dr. Chris Jones is one of the few people who can talk as fluently about Biblical theology and Christian principles as he can about quantum mechanical states and differential equations. He is among an even smaller set of people who can do that while recalling stories of fishing, playing sports, organizing in urban and rural communities, being a military spouse and doing his girl dad thing. He brings all of this to bear in Quantum Pearls.

A native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Chris was the first African American major party nominee for Governor in his state’s history. His love for science took him to Morehouse College, where he earned physics and math degrees, to NASA where he interned with a NASA astronaut, and to MIT where he earned two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. His love for Christ drove him to teach Sunday School at a young age and to become an ordained minister. His love for community opened the door for him to serve as an Assistant Dean for Graduate Education at MIT, run The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, and lead The Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub. More than anything, Chris loves his wife of 20 years, Dr. Jerrilyn Jones, who is an Emergency Medicine physician and veteran of the United States Air Force. Together, they have three beautiful daughters.