Mike Pauken

Mike Pauken is a senior engineer at Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena California. Prior to joining JPL in 2000 he was an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering (ME) at Washington University in St. Louis where he taught the "Triple Crown" of mechanical engineering: thermodynamics, heat transfer and fluid mechanics. He continues to teach by moonlight in thermodynamics and heat transfer at local universities. He received his PhD. in ME from Georgia Tech and his BS in ME is from Vanderbilt University.

While he was writing "Thermodynamics For Dummies" he drank 247 cups of coffee and chewed 137 antacid tablets. If you add those numbers up it means he either drank a cup of coffee or chewed on an antacid tablet for each page of the book. Writing and rewriting is a momumental task, especially for an engineer, but it is a rewarding one.