Welcome Back, Dr. Quinn

Dr. Jason Quinn rows a boat for Holiday Expeditions through Warm Springs at 27,000 CFS on a five-day Yampa River float through Dinosaur National Monument. Dr. Quinn is pictured in the orange hat.

“I’m a long time Rams fan!” said Dr. Jason Quinn. “It is great to be giving back to a community that has supported me in achieving my goals.”

Life kept bringing him back to CSU, not once, not twice, but three times! A Colorado native, Quinn applied for his undergraduate degree at CSU, among other schools, and was accepted in 1998. During his undergraduate years, he majored in mechanical engineering and picked up diverse interests while working for residence life, participating in the President’s Leadership Program, and working as an orientation leader. He was also on the first place SAE Human Powered Vehicle team for his senior design project.

Following graduation, Dr. Quinn attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and, after graduate school, he decided to travel the world and explore the outdoors. “I spent this time doing everything but what I had spent six years training for, and it was one of the best decisions I made. To be successful, you have to be able to communicate and network, and this is when I honed those skills.” He did everything from working the front desk at a lodge in Alta, Utah, to raft guiding in Utah, Patagonia (Chile), and New Zealand.

Dr. Jason Quinn performs graduate school research at the Solix algae pilot plant.

In 2008, the stars aligned, and Dr. Quinn was once again accepted into CSU, but this time for the mechanical engineering Ph.D. program, where he later studied as a research scientist under adviser, Dr. Tom Bradley. Under Dr. Bradley, he had the opportunity to be a researcher, teacher, and mentor.

In 2012, Dr. Quinn accepted a position as an assistant professor at Utah State University, where he performed research and taught for four years. But Colorado had other plans for him. He applied for a mechanical engineering assistant professor opening at CSU, and was hired as faculty in late 2016. The rest is history

“CSU has been very good to me, and I am grateful for that. It is a place with people who care.” We are thrilled to have Dr. Quinn back; life not only came full circle for him, but for the department too.