Jason Steffen

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Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Expertise: Astronomy, Exoplanets, Cosmology, Dark matter and energy, Gravitation, General physics

Biography

Jason Steffen works in the field of exoplanets — planets that orbit distant stars. He has been a member of the science team for NASA's Kepler mission. He continues to analyze data from that mission to understand the properties of planets and planetary systems. He also worked on projects related to dark matter, dark energy, and gravity.

Steffen is originally from Utah and attended graduate school in Seattle. Before coming to UNLV, he was the Lindheimer Fellow at Northwestern University and the Brinson Fellow at Fermilab outside of Chicago.

In addition to his work in astrophysics, he is known for the Steffen Method, a procedure to efficiently board passengers on an airplane.

Education

Ph.D. in Physics, University of Washington, Seattle
B.S. in Physics and Mathematic, Weber State University

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Jason Steffen In The News

This is the quickest way to board a plane — but airlines don’t use it

Metro UK

Confusing calls for ‘priority boarders’ and numbered groups can make the process drag on — so it might surprise travelers to learn that there’s actually a tried and tested boarding system proven to make the process quicker.

Boarding an airplane isn't efficient. Airlines like it that way

Airlines use slower boarding methods because they help sell perks like priority boarding and seat upgrades.

A rare six-planet alignment is lighting up the sky this week. Here’s how to see it.

Planetary alignments happen more often than you might think. Here’s why this one is special.

What is perihelion? Here's what happens when Earth is nearest to the sun

At the start of the year, Earth will quietly reach a milestone in its orbit around the sun. Known as perihelion, this is the moment when our planet is closer to the sun than at any other point in the year.