Assistant Professor Steven Bryant
Assistant Professor, Steven Bryant, is not a new comer to our campus. He earned his PhD here in chemical engineering in 1986 and then left to work as a researcher for British Petroleum in England and then in Scotland, for the Italian state oil company in Milan, before heading back to the United States and university endeavors, including a stint at Rice University. When he first returned to UT Austin, he was a research scientist in the Center for Subsurface Modeling in the Institute for Computational and Engineering Sciences. He did, however, have an interest in teaching and while he valued his research experiences and his occasional teaching experiences, he wanted to become a professor. Steve believes that engineering is exciting and “it is challenging to take basic principles of how things work and then apply it to solve engineering problems. The element of creativity is a large part of engineering.” He knows that when students enter the work force they are often asked to do things “better and cheaper” and his teaching helps to nurture students understanding of fundamentals and the intuition that is needed to come up with better solutions.
Steve’s undergraduate experience at Vanderbilt was unique in that he was one of the rare students able to participate in research (on a coal gasification process) and he was the only student from his undergraduate class to go on to higher education. This opportunity to do undergraduate research profoundly influenced him and he is advocating that students in our engineering school get similar opportunities. Steve is someone who questions how things work and he knows students engaged in research activities are getting to do such questioning.
As a professor, Steve has found that “the craft of teaching is something that needs to be learned.” He has found the support the College provides through his department, the FIC and the New Faculty Orientation very useful and that our students “get a better deal” due to these efforts. While he has found there can be an “energy barrier” when it comes to utilizing services like the FIC, he knows that the payoff is well worth it. For example, the FIC redesigned an antiquated, clunky laboratory simulation into an interactive virtual laboratory called Pressure Volume Temperature. In his classes, Steve uses all kinds of devices, like tennis balls, to find ways to illustrate concepts. He has found, however, that while that helps, it is very useful to have the FIC animator create 3d visuals. Steve said he is “happy to be in a place where he can talk to people about teaching and learning” and we look forward to more conversations.