As a teacher, Steven is interested in the potential of active learning as enhanced by modern bona fide computational tools — like electronic structure software (e.g. Spartan) that allow one to probe molecular properties, or the use of reanalysis software (e.g. Earth.nullschool.net) that allow one to visualize synoptic weather systems. As a researcher, a lot of his work focuses on ice in the climate system: from its molecular properties, to growing cirrus-like ice crystals in a scanning electron microscope, to modeling that growth with partial differential equations, and to how clouds and snow interact with sunlight. He is further interested in how those interactions are shifting in response to a changing climate.