Chris Kalnmals grew up in Chicago, where he attended the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) from 2009 to 2013. During that time, he conducted undergraduate research in the areas of organic and organometallic chemistry with Prof. Aditya K. Unni and Prof. Adam S. Hock. After obtaining his BS in Chemistry from IIT in 2013, he moved to Stanford University, where he conducted research on asymmetric and transition metal catalysis under the direction of Prof. Barry M. Trost. After obtaining his PhD in 2019, he began working at Corteva Agriscience in herbicide discovery chemistry.