Christoforus Bayu Risanto was born in January 1981 in Bogor, Indonesia. He grew up and went to school in that city until 1996 when he entered St. Peter Canisius Minor Seminary in Magelang, Indonesia. After graduating from the minor seminary, he joined the Society of Jesus in 2000 and began his philosophy studies in 2003. His thesis was the understanding of time in Newtonian and Einsteinian mathematical-physics and its impact on epistemology.
Bayu taught senior physics, sophomore geometry, and freshman general science for two years (2007 – 2009) at Xavier High School, Federated States of Micronesia before completing his master’s degree in theology in 2012. His thesis was on the eco-tehology based on the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
Soon after his priesthood ordination in 2012, he was missioned to pursue meteorology and climatology studies in the United States of America. He received a Master's degree in atmospheric science from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska in 2016. He completed his Ph.D. in atmospheric science with minor in remote sensing in 2021 with two different project funds (i.e., the Mexican data assimilation project supported by UNAM and the University of Arizona, and the Saudi Arabian subseasonal forecast project supported by King Abdullah University Science and Technology). Upon his graduation, he continued to work at the University of Arizona as a postdoctoral research associate until July 2024 when he joined the Vatican Observatory.
Since Sept 2026, he has assumed the role of the Superior of the Jesuit community attached to the Vatican Observatory.
Education:
- Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences and Remote Sensing – University of Arizona – 2021
- Master of Science in Atmospheric Sciences – Creighton University – 2016
- Master of Arts in Theology – Universitas Sanata Dharma – 2012
- Bachelor in Philosophy – Sekolah Tinggi Filsafat Driyarkara – 2007
Memberships:
- American Meteorological Society (since 2014)
- American Geophysical Union (since 2018)
- European Geophysical Union (since 2023)