Q&A with Anna Hodshire: From air quality to energy innovation 

Anna Hodshire is one of the newest professors at the Colorado State University Department of Systems Engineering. With a strong foundation in atmospheric science and a passion for solving practical problems, Hodshire brings a unique perspective to research and education around energy systems, emissions, and air quality.  

To introduce Hodshire to our students and partners, we sat down for a conversation about her background, her research interests, and the ways she’s helping train the next generation of engineers.  

The following Q&A was edited for length. 

Q: What sparked your interest in the intersection of air quality, energy, and public health? 

A: I grew up in Ogden, Utah, with beautiful mountains like here in Colorado, but wintertime inversions trap smog pollution in the valley. You can see it, smell it, even taste it. I used to think, “This air pollution makes me feel terrible, makes people around me feel terrible.” During my physics undergrad, I did a capstone on air pollution because it was something I felt every day. My friends and family still do. That led me to atmospheric science, which I hadn’t even heard of before then. I ended up switching my graduate school applications from physics to atmospheric science a week before they were due and got into CSU’s atmospheric science department. 

Over time, my interests expanded into public health and energy. When I finished grad school and left a startup job, I interviewed at CSU’s Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center. It felt like a very good fit. Methane emissions from natural gas operations directly affect both climate and public health, and I wanted to work where I could make a tangible impact. 

Q: How do you approach working across academia and industry? 

I think about research in terms of deliverables. Whether it’s a regulatory agency or a private company funding the work, they’re investing in results. They gave us money because they want something. They’ll keep giving us money if we deliver and go beyond. We want to push the science forward, yes, but we also need to answer practical questions. That mindset came from my experience in industry and continues at METEC. 

I also try to bring this into the classroom, making sure what students learn is useful both for their own research and the real world. Not everyone gets industry exposure in grad school, and I want to make sure our students do. It helps them decide whether that path is right for them. 

Q: What role do you see METEC playing in the global energy transition? 

Natural gas is not going away anytime soon. It’s often seen as a cleaner alternative to coal, and that’s true, but only if we manage methane leaks to the atmosphere. That’s where METEC fits in. We study why emissions happen, how much is being released, and how to reduce those emissions to make a win-win for both companies and the environment. Because we work with both regulators and industry, we can give actionable feedback that improves policy and operations. We’re not just in ivory towers writing incomprehensible papers, our work gets used. We’ve even helped companies use our processes to pitch emissions strategies to international bodies like the European Commission. 

Q: How do you support students in your research and teaching roles? 

I make time to ask what students need from me and how we can make the relationship work both ways. I’ve got amazing research associates and students, so I can usually focus more on guiding mentorship and giving project direction. I’ve been lucky to have great mentors myself, so I try to pass that forward. I think it’s important for us all to have a good work-life balance; I care about it for myself, and I care about it for my students. Although I will admit, work-life balance always been something I’ve struggled with. If anyone has the magic answer to balancing all this, let me know! 

I’m also pretty flexible on deadlines – as long as students communicate, I get it. Life happens and there are things more important than school sometimes. The work must be done to earn the grade, but it’s a different experience for everyone.  

Q: What do you like to do outside of work? 

Work is important, but I try to end the day with something that brings joy and balance. I love making “bad dance music” – not great songs but I have so much fun with the creative process. I also enjoy getting outside with my dogs. This state is beautiful and worth seeing. I do all the standard Colorado things: kayaking, cross-country skiing, hiking. But I’m not one of those ultra-athletes. I’m more of a six-mile hike and have a hearty brunch kind of person.  

Q: What does systems engineering mean to you? 

I did not start out looking to become a systems engineer. It came to me through the complexities of my education and the work that I do. I started in physics because I had a fun professor. I thought about engineering at first, but didn’t like it, too mechanical. I stayed an extra year in physics to earn a second major in applied math. But I don’t do well in the abstraction. My work in industry informed my understanding of both the private and public sectors, how to communicate and how to get different kinds of people to gather around shared problems. Basically, I’ve learned that most problems these days involve too many components and requirements for any one disciplinary perspective, and I am excited to dive more into systems engineering. It’s a field focused on making sense of a mess of problems to discover solutions. It’s not necessarily advancing a field in some novel direction but making connections between different fields. I really like that systems engineering lets me toggle between the big picture and the details.