Jeff Santner

Jeff Santner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at California State University, Los Angeles, within the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology. His primary responsibilities include teaching undergraduate courses such as Thermodynamics (ME 3260), Heat Transfer (ME 4060), Fluid Mechanics I (ME 3030), and Propulsion Systems (ME 4040), along with special topics like Combustion. He maintains regular office hours in ET A-131 and provides advising services through scheduled appointments.

His academic background includes a Ph.D. and M.A. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University (2009-2015), where he researched flame speed measurement and combustion chemistry under Yiguang Ju and Frederick Dryer. Prior to that, he earned a B.S. in Engineering with a Physics minor from Swarthmore College (2005-2009). Before joining Cal State LA as Assistant Professor (2017-2022) and later Associate Professor (2022-present), he conducted postdoctoral research at Argonne National Laboratory (2015-2017) focusing on ignition in rapid compression machines with bio-derived fuels.

Santner's research centers on combustion chemistry with specific emphasis on NOx formation, kinetic model reduction, flame initiation/propagation, and reaction rate extraction from literature experiments. His publication record shows consistent contributions to combustion science, particularly in experimental validation of chemical mechanisms and uncertainty analysis in ignition phenomena. Recent work includes autoignition studies of heterocyclic compounds and integration of computational materials research with engineering pedagogy.

His scholarly output demonstrates strong activity in combustion diagnostics and chemical kinetics, with publications spanning experimental validation of reaction mechanisms, flame propagation dynamics, and alternative fuel characterization. The research trajectory shows increasing focus on experimental uncertainty quantification, bio-derived fuel combustion, and pedagogical applications of computational methods.

Santner actively contributes to open-source scientific software through GitHub repositories related to combustion chemistry tools, including gas property calculators and reaction mechanism utilities. His RUI grant work focuses on indirect measurement techniques for reaction rates in laminar flames, indicating ongoing external research funding.