STEVEN JOHN BURIAN portrait
  • Associate Director, Global Change and Sustainability Center, Vp For Research
  • Adjunct Professor, Civil And Environmental Engin
801-585-5721

Professional Organizations

  • Water Environment Federation. 01/07/2002 - present. Position : Member.

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, is one that seeks to inspire students by transparently and actively engaging them in their learning. In my teaching I follow the American Society of Civil Engineers ExCEEd Teaching Model. I strive to establish a positive atmosphere by integrating enthusiastic presentations, thought-provoking demonstrations, physical models, challenging example problems, outside experts, team activities and active learning exercises, and project-based learning opportunities into a logically organized sequence of topics stimulating critical thinking and addressing the course learning outcomes. A key foundation to my approach is the establishment of strong interpersonal rapport with students. Each lesson is structured to achieve a set of clearly defined learning objectives and frequent assessment is used to determine student learning and quantify performance. In the classroom I give students the freedom to learn by giving them freedom to ask questions, to share views, to judge ideas, to make mistakes, to learn from one another, to share experiences, and to be themselves.

Current Students

  • Danyal Aziz, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Chair.
  • Danyal Aziz, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Chair.