Jerald Emmett Christiansen was born April 9, 1905 in Hyrum, Utah the son of Jeremiah Josiah and Emily Josephine Israelsen Christiansen. In 1923 Christiansen enrolled at Idaho State College, Pocatello (now Idaho State University) where he earned an AD in 1925. That fall he enrolled at the Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) and received a BS with Honors in engineering in 1927 and was valedictorian of his class. The following semester Christiansen pursued graduate studies at University of California, Berkeley from where he earned his MS in civil engineering in 1928. His thesis was entitled "A Study of the Regulation of Kings River by Storage." The following summer on July 17, 1929, Christiansen married Rebecca Henderson Nelson in the Logan LDS Temple and they later had two sons, Jerald N. and Henry N. Christiansen.

In the fall of 1928, Christiansen accepted a faculty position at University of California, Davis where he worked until 1941. During this period, Christiansen pioneered studies in the science of sprinkler irrigation. In 1935 Christiansen obtained a civil engineer’s degree from University of California, Davis, and his final report was entitled "Distribution of Silt in Open Channels." In 1942 he accepted a USDA position at the Regional Salinity Laboratory at Riverside, California, where he worked for four years. In 1946 Christiansen returned to Utah State University to serve as dean of engineering and acted in this capacity until 1957. From 1957 until his retirement in 1975, Christiansen worked at Utah State University both teaching and conducting research. In 1975 Utah State University awarded Christiansen an honorary doctorate degree.

Over the course of Christiansen’s career, he worked on irrigation and engineering projects in Europe, South America, and the Middle East. He was also actively involved with various scholarly organizations, in local and civic affairs, and with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was awarded the Royce J. Tipton Award in 1976 by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Christiansen died at his home in Logan, Utah on October 28, 1989.