He retired from the Astronaut Corps in July 2012 to take a teaching position as a full-time professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at University of California at Davis. "Steve will be sorely missed by the Astronaut Office," said Janet Kavandi, Director of Flight Crew Operations. "He was a fellow classmate, and I will personally miss his ever-positive attitude and smiling face. We wish him the best in his future endeavors, and we are confident that he will be a positive influence and wonderful mentor to inquisitive minds at the University of California at Davis."