Rate My Professor Jason Durfee

Jason Durfee, PhD, PE, is Professor and Chair of the Mechanical Engineering & Technology Department at Eastern Washington University (EWU), where he also serves as Mechanical Engineering Technology Program Coordinator. Joining EWU in 2004, he teaches courses primarily in Fluid Mechanics and Engineering Graphics and supports transfer students in Mechanical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Technology programs. Durfee earned his BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Washington State University. His doctoral dissertation, "A Large-Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Flow Within a Progressively Thinned Loblolly Pine Forest," focused on turbulent flow modeling. A licensed Professional Engineer in Mechanical Engineering from the Commonwealth of Virginia, he is a retired Command Pilot from the Washington Air National Guard and former Airline Transport Pilot. His professional expertise includes aviation, airline operations, military aviation, and piano technology.

Durfee's research emphasizes engineering education and student outcomes. Key publications include "A Formal Research Study on Correlating Student Attendance to Student Success" (ASEE Annual Conference, 2013), "Correlating Course Attendance with Factors of First-Generation Status, Gender, and Economic Status" (2014), "Using Open Ended Undergraduate Robotics Projects to Teach Engineering Design" (2014), and "A Cohort Study on the Effectiveness of Ethics Education in Engineering/Engineering Technology Programs" (ASEE, 2016). He co-led a five-year study on ethics education implementation using the NSPE Code of Ethics exam. Durfee advises the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) student section, serves on the EWU Academic Senate representing the College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics through 2026, and has held roles such as Faculty Representative for the School of Computing and Engineering in EWU ACADA. Recognized with the 2015 EWU ACADA Award and 2019 Distinguished Service Award, he contributes to student research mentoring, including projects on gaseous species transport modeling, and departmental leadership in program development and community outreach events like the SeaPerch challenge.