Jonathan Steffens
visiting assistant professor of mechanical engineering
Ph.D., mechanical engineering, Cornell University
What I’m focused on:
“Emission dispersion at power plants and computational modeling on how emissions affect communities around power plants. There’s a social justice emphasis here because sometimes low-income people have no choice but to live next to a power plant.”
What excites me:
“I enjoy studying ways to reduce exposure to highway pollution, a project I’ve worked on since grad school. I look at it not from the standpoint of reducing emissions from vehicles themselves but looking for alternate ways to control air pollution, from a design perspective, such as planting trees or changing roadway geometry.”
What you can expect from me:
“I try to add practical applications to my courses and get away from dry equations. In teaching heat transfer, a classic, I try to put my own spin on it and add flavor to a course that’s often dry and mathematical.”
What I’m holding:
“Silicon moldings of the inside of my mouth, made during my first research work as an undergraduate. They’re a physical reminder of my first step toward academia. I nearly choked when I first made them and used a straw to breathe through while the molds set up and cured. It was part of a larger project to show how cigarette smoke traveled through the respiratory system and how particles deposited on the back of the throat.”