Jens Stenger studied physics at the Universities of Konstanz, Göttingen, SUNY Stony Brook, and the Humboldt University of Berlin where he received a PhD in 2002. After a two-year post-doctoral research appointment in the Chemistry Department at the University of California, Berkeley, he joined the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art Museums in 2004 as the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Conservation Science. Following his fellowship he continued his research at the Straus Center until 2013 when he joined the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Yale University as an Associate Conservation Scientist.