About

Paul Blowers is a University Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and a Professor of Public Health at the University of Arizona. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, obtained in 1999, along with master's and bachelor's degrees in Chemical Engineering from the same university and Michigan State University, respectively. His research applies theoretical chemistry techniques to environmental problems for global evaluation and drives pedagogical and scientific development in life cycle assessment and green engineering. Blowers is recognized for his excellence in undergraduate instruction, having received numerous awards including the highest teaching honor at the University of Arizona, the University Distinguished Professor title, and the Carnegie Foundation Arizona Professor of the Year. His interests include teaching integrated senior design and sustainability courses for chemical engineers, integrating information literacy, computational skills, teamwork, communication, and sustainability into core courses, and training students to approach sustainability assessment through quantifiable methods.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Mathematics education
• Sociology
• Medicine
• Operating system
• Pharmacology
• Medical emergency
• Family medicine
• World Wide Web
• Intensive care medicine
• Management
• Medical education
• Distributed computing
• Software engineering

Selected publications

• The Importance of Contributions of Conformations to the Radiative Efficiency Value of a Compound Compared to the Lowest Energy Conformer using Quantum Chemistry

  The Journal of Physical Chemistry A · 2026-04-24

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Accurate prediction of the radiative efficiency (RE) is essential in assessing the climate impact of fluorinated compounds. This study investigates the role of molecular conformers in determining the RE of perfluorobutylbutylmethylamine (PFBBM) using quantum chemical methods and thermodynamic modeling. By evaluating the complete ensemble of possible conformers and applying a Boltzmann distribution of those conformers from Gibbs free energy calculations, we found that relying solely on the lowest-energy conformer can underestimate the RE of a compound. Our results emphasize the importance of incorporating various conformations of molecules in climate modeling and regulatory assessments of greenhouse gas and global warming potentials (GWPs) when using quantum chemical methods.

  PublisherDOI

• Accuracy of Several Cubic Equations of State for Predicting Vapor Pressures Using Critical Properties from Experimental Constants, PR+COSMOSAC-Based Constants, and Full PR+COSMOSAC Calculations

  The Journal of Physical Chemistry A · 2026-03-31

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Sulfur-containing compounds can be emitted from multiple sources, but there is often minimal physical property data for those compounds. Using established computational methods, we calculated the physical properties of compounds and the radiative efficiency of compounds to determine if a compound could be a greenhouse gas. Using physical properties, like critical temperature and pressure, and acentric factor, the vapor pressure of a molecule can be calculated using cubic equations of state. We compared the use of equations of state with experimental and predicted (PR + COSMOSAC) physical properties, combined with direct PR + COSMOSAC calculations for vapor pressure. Equations of State (EOS) calculations based on experimental data yielded an average percent error, with ranges of 15.7%, 16.0%, and 154.3% using the Peng-Robinson (PR), Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK), and Redlich-Kwong (RK) EOS methods, respectively. For PR + COSMOSAC, predicted physical properties had average percent errors of 38.1%, 36.0%, and 107.9% for PR, SRK, and RK, respectively. In comparison, the PR + COSMOSAC direct prediction for vapor pressures had an average percent error of 34.5%. From our calculations, based on the EPA's definition for volatile organic compounds, all sulfur-containing species researched here are classified as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and will become greenhouse gases. In combination with the VOC classification, sulfur-containing species were found to have higher-than-average radiative efficiency when compared to prior work on other compounds. The combination of these factors highlights sulfur-containing species as a focus for further study in terms of atmospheric lifetime, aerosol formation, and volatility validation, since these compounds may be greenhouse gases.

  PublisherDOI

• Insights from an instructional team model focused on formative assessment with the support of learning researchers

  Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education · 2025-05-12

  articleOpen access

  Formative assessment is a key instructional practice for implementing evidence-based teaching, with research demonstrating its potential to enhance student learning. However, conducting formative assessments in large college classrooms with hundreds of students poses significant challenges, particularly in noticing, interpreting, and addressing students' thinking in real-time. To address these challenges, we designed, implemented, and studied a specialized instructional team model (ITM) consisting of the instructor and a team of learning assistants (LAs), including a dedicated learning researcher (LR). The LR plays a central role in supporting formative assessment by collecting and interpreting evidence of student understanding in large classroom settings. Over 7 years, the ITM influenced the teaching practices of 44 instructors, 48 LRs, and 974 LAs across 21 departments and eight colleges at our institution, positively impacting the learning experiences of more than 20,000 undergraduate students. Through this work, we learned that meaningful and productive engagement in formative assessment requires long-term training for both learning assistants and instructors. This training should focus on developing their ability to elicit, notice, interpret, and respond to student thinking. These key lessons are informed by insights from three stakeholder groups: learning researchers (LRs), participating instructors, and the management team. This perspective aims to inform Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) educators and researchers interested in advancing formative assessment through the support of specialized instructional teams.

  PublisherDOI

• "Application of Multimodal Software Tools to Teach Problem Solving Skills"

  2025-02-27

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Many faculty members have attempted to apply new technological advances in classroom settings to improve pedagogical approaches, increase student learning, and to run classrooms more effectively.Unfortunately, many of the approaches of applying these new tools do not accomplish these goals.This work investigates the use of multimodal (spoken verbal, written verbal, and visual) approaches integrated through Microsoft's OneNote program to change student access to problem solving frameworks in the context of a junior level thermodynamics course on equilibrium thermodynamics for chemical engineers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Toolbox for Integrating Information Literacy into Engineering Courses: Helping Students Help Themselves

  2025-02-27

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Maximus the Confessor’s Neo-Irenaean Theology of History, Thickly Described

  The New Ressourcement · 2025-06-24

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Paul M. Blowers argues that Maximus the Confessor’s theology of history interweaves cosmology, Christology, and eschatology. Cosmologically, it portrays creaturely motion and divine providence as guiding human beings from chaos toward order. Christologically, history is recast through Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection, with divine and human freedom intertwined. Eschatologically, history does not return to prelapsarian origins but moves toward unprecedented glory, where creation participates in God’s infinite energies. Through this dialectic of motion and rest, Maximus envisions history as a theodrama of transformation and divine renewal.

  PublisherDOI

• The User’s Ecosystem

  AAPS advances in the pharmaceutical sciences series · 2025-10-25

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract In this chapter, we will bring the user’s ecosystem to light. Designing within a health ecosystem involves not only consideration for the patient experience, but also situations and environments of use that contribute to a wider set of experiences, interactions, and relationships that, if designed well, can improve outcomes beyond safe and effective use. There are a myriad of touchpoints that make up the ecosystem in which a user will need to navigate in taking their therapy. These touchpoints vary and include their HCP, their pharmacist as well as caregivers. Case studies will be described to provide detail as to how some companies filled knowledge gaps and identified insight to advance therapies.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Integration of Sustainability into a Chemical Engineering Senior Capstone Design Course

  2025-02-27

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Sustainability issues are attracting many incoming students into engineering as issues related to population growth, use of natural resources, and the impacts of manufacturing and use of products have emerged.Integrating sustainability issues into core courses has often been difficult because instructors feel that they need to give up other content to make room for the new materials.However, we have followed a path towards full integration of green design and sustainability into our two semester series on chemical engineering design.Originally, a free standing elective course at the senior/graduate student level was created and offered twice.The course introduced students to green design, green chemistry, life cycle assessment evaluation, and critical reading of peer reviewed literature on these topics.The students worked in teams to do one green design to replace an older technology and also attempted to perform one gate-to-gate life cycle assessment of a process.After offering the course two times, it became possible to integrate the material into the senior capstone course by rethinking the topics in that course and shifting focus slightly.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Use of Concept Maps to Build Student Understanding and Connections Among Course Topics

  2025-02-27

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Longitudinal Contact with Individual Students as a Route of Encouraging Self-Determination in Chemical Engineers

  2025-02-27

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Frederick Pelikan

  Princeton University

  81 shared

• George Hunston

  University of Chicago

  81 shared

• Oratio Sacra

  Union Theological Seminary

  81 shared

• James W. Sears

  81 shared

• Mcgee Feingold

  Royal Society

  81 shared

• Richard H. Helmholz

  Bridge University

  81 shared

• Donald E. Parker

  81 shared

• T Calvin's Preaching

  Union Theological Seminary

  81 shared

Awards & honors

• University Distinguished Professor, The University of Arizon…
• College of Engineering Teaching Fellow, The University of Ar…
• Carnegie Foundation Arizona Professor of the Year (2011)
• The University of Arizona Honors College Five-Star Faculty A…
• The UA Foundation Leicester and Kathryn Sherrill Creative Te…