Faculty Profile: Sarah Kavassalis

Assistant Professor of Climate and Chemistry Sarah Kavassalis has been at Mudd for three years. Her research program centers on creating novel computational tools to answer important questions about air quality and climate. Get to know Sarah in this Q-and-A.

Please briefly describe your work at HMC.

My primary responsibility is teaching, and I’ve been fortunate to do so in collaboration with both the newly established Hixon Center for Climate and the Environment and the Department of Chemistry. I’ve already developed several new courses, including Climate Dynamics (CLES101), a Numerical Methods course (CHEM80) and Oceanic and Atmospheric Chemistry course (CHEM170), with many more exciting offerings on the horizon. We’ve also recently introduced our first climate joint majors, and I’m thrilled to advise our students in these new programs. Beyond classroom instruction and advising, mentoring through research is another significant part of the job. I have had an amazing group of research students helping me answer big questions about our atmosphere. One of our major projects involves studying greenhouse gas exchange and the long-term climate impacts at the field station just north of campus. Soon, we’ll have the capability to simulate not only present-day Claremont and the broader Southern California area but also to imagine what our atmosphere might have looked like pre-colonization and how it could appear in the future under various policy-relevant scenarios.

What is your favorite part about your job and why?

The student interactions are what make this job so great. Our students are passionate and motivated to do good for the world. Their dedication to addressing global challenges sustains my hope for the future and propels me to engage deeply in efforts that benefit both the students and our greater community.

If you could add anything to campus to improve the employee experience, what would it be?

Public transit! I am an enormous public transit enthusiast, and I would love to see the Claremont Colleges have a bus loop to take our community around Claremont between key college locations and key places in town.

What’s your favorite food/dish in the Hoch-Shanahan Dining Hall?

It’s a tie between the nopalitos con papas and the chile rellenos.

What HMC events have made you feel really connected to other HMC colleagues?

It’s another toss-up between the early career lunches with other junior faculty colleagues on Wednesdays and the Hixon Happy Hours (for faculty). I am apparently highly food motivated, so food + delightful humans = a sense of community for me.

What is your favorite hobby, activity or creative outlet?

I really enjoy walking to the degree that it counts as an actual hobby. I have walked on almost every street in Claremont (missing some of North Claremont still) and can spend most of a day just strolling around, looking at trees if the weather allows. Walking with my family is an opportunity to have rich conversations. When I walk alone, it is meditation and my favourite way of reconnecting with myself.

What is the best piece of advice someone has given you, either in life or at work?

Perfect is the enemy of the good.

What is your most effective strategy for dealing with stress?

Extremely long walks.