Hey! It's me, Dr. Burford Furman here. My vital information is immediately below, and some more information about me is below that.

	NAME: Dr. Burford Furman, PhD, PE https://www.sjsu.edu/people/burford.furman/ https://meettheprof.com/view/professors/entry/buff-furman/
	EMAIL: burford.furman@sjsu.edu
	OFFICE ROOM NUMBER: Engineering 310G
	OFFICE PHONE: (408) 924-3817
	OFFICE HOURS: M 1315-1415 (in person), Tu 1330-1430 (Zoom), or by appointment
	TEACHING AND RESEARCH INTERESTS: Dynamics, mechatronics, measurements, machine design, solar-powered automated transportation

I've been at SJSU since 1994, and I love being a professor! It wasn't always that way, though. As a kid, I loved machines, tools, and working with my hands. Here is me on a Cat D8 in Fallon, NV when I was about 13.

Up until somewhere in high school, I was pretty captivated in becoming an orthopedic surgeon, partly because I had broken/dislocated a few bones by then, and partly because those kind of doctors got to use saws, drills, screws (pretty mechanical stuff) in the process of fixing peoples' bodies.

However, my interest in medicine did not last, and I actually started as an undeclared freshman at UC Davis. Somewhere on the application I think I indicated an interest in engineering, because I was placed in the College of Engineering. I liked math and science since grade school, so I started taking the math, physics, chemistry, and other courses like the engineers, but I was not well prepared for calculus or physics from high school. They were hard classes! I struggled so much with physics that at some point I hired a tutor to survive. [ Key takeaway: don't give up! ] In fact, looking back, school was not a breeze for me at all. I worked hard to learn! But pretty much all the subjects were interesting, especially mechanical engineering, which I eventually declared as my major.  [Ask me sometime about which were my hardest classes ... :) ]

I eventually graduated with High Honors. The commencement address was given by the Dean of the College of Engineering (John Kemper), and part of his address to the graduates was to consider engineering education as a profession (becoming a professor). The message felt like a calling, so walking out of the ceremony, I knew that I wanted to become an engineering professor. [Long story between then and now (including MS and PhD study, work in industry, etc! Ask me about that sometime.]

Fast forward to now, I'm married and have a daughter who is in college at Sacramento State University. Apart from my job as a professor, I love to make and fix things, ride my bike, hike, read, and learn new things. My favorite music is jazz fusion/jazz-funk, to the likes of Brian Culbertson, Wayman Tisdale, Fourplay, Mezzoforte, The Rippingtons, Althea Rene, and many others.

The most significant thing in my life is my relationship to God through Jesus Christ. There is more to that backstory at my Meet-the-Prof webpage.