Rate My Professor Ehren Pflugfelder

Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder is Professor of technical and scientific writing in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University, where he teaches courses in technical writing, science and environmental writing, writing pedagogy, graduate STEM writing, and rhetoric theory. He earned his PhD in Rhetoric and Composition, with a focus in technical writing, from Purdue University in 2012; his dissertation, In Measure of the World: Advancing a Kinesthetic Rhetoric, received the 2013 CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication. Pflugfelder also holds an MA in English Literature, with a focus in cultural studies and critical pedagogy, from Case Western Reserve University (2005), and a BSE in Secondary Education (English and Communications) from Slippery Rock University (2001, magna cum laude).

Pflugfelder joined Oregon State University in 2012 as Assistant Professor of Scientific, Technical, and Professional Writing, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018, and to Professor in 2025. He served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the School from 2016 to 2019 and holds affiliate faculty appointments in Environmental Arts and Humanities and Design for Social Impact. His research focuses on technical and professional communication, environmental rhetoric, the rhetoric of science and scientific writing, rhetoric and risk, and animal rhetorics. Notable publications include the monograph Geoengineering, Persuasion, and the Climate Crisis: A Geologic Rhetoric (University of Alabama Press, 2023), nominated for the 2024 CCCC Best Book in Technical or Scientific Communication and other awards; Communicating Mobility and Technology: A Material Rhetoric for Persuasive Transportation (Routledge, 2017), winner of the 2018 CCCC Best Book in Technical or Scientific Communication; and forthcoming Undermining Risk and Technical Communication: Extractive Industry, Cascading Disaster, and the Global Climate Crisis (SUNY Press, co-authored). He has published peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Technical Communication Quarterly, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Written Communication, and Rhetoric Review, addressing topics like AI in technical writing, fraudulent scientific images, environmental risk, and genre in science discussions. Awards include the Oregon State University Promising Scholar Award (2018) and multiple Center for the Humanities fellowships. Pflugfelder has contributed editorially as Co-Founder and Technical Editor of Present Tense journal and holds officer positions in the Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine. His influence extends through conference leadership, such as Program Chair for ACM SIGDOC (2019), and curriculum development, including the Undergraduate Certificate in Scientific, Technical, and Professional Communication (2017).