Work

Twenty years. Four continents.

2024 — Now
Director of Education
Evolved Energy Research · San Diego
Current
2023 — 2024
English Language Fellow
U.S. Department of State
Diplomat
2023 — 2024
Visiting Professor
Universidade de São Paulo · Brazil
Faculty
2017 — 2020
Lecturer
UCLA · Los Angeles
Faculty
2009 — 2017
PhD · Applied Linguistics
UCLA · Los Angeles
Doctorate
2012 — 2013
Adjunct Professor
Santa Monica College · ESL
Early career
2006
English Instructor
South Korea
Early career

Director of Education

Evolved Energy Research · San Diego · 2024 — Now

The current post. Internal + external education for a fast-growing consultancy at the center of U.S. energy planning.

  • Lead internal education efforts: training, curriculum, onboarding for new staff across engineering and policy teams.
  • Run external education: newsletters, blog posts, press releases, news articles translating modeling work for non-modelers.
  • Write and co-author technical reports, including EER's 2024 Annual Decarbonization Perspective in Europe and dozens of client deliverables.
  • Bridge the firm's quantitative research and the public-facing voice of the practice.
Teaching

Courses I've run.

Across UCLA, USP, Santa Monica College, and the U.S. Department of State. About 1000 students across the world, tens of thousands of papers graded, and a linguistic humor seminar I would teach forever if they'd let me.
Ling
LING 1
The Study of Language
UCLA
Ling
LING 9W
Linguistic Humor — Amusing & Abusing with Language
UCLA
Ling
LING 11
Language in Action — Applied Linguistics
UCLA
Ling
LING 20
Introduction to Linguistic Analysis
UCLA
Ling
LING 144
Fundamentals in Translation & Interpreting
UCLA
Ling
LING 170
Language & Society — Sociolinguistics
UCLA
Ling
USP
Topics of Semantics
São Paulo
Ling
USP
Phonetics & Phonology
São Paulo
App-Ling
APPLING 30W
Language & Social Interaction
UCLA
App-Ling
APPLING 40W
Language & Gender
UCLA
App-Ling
APPLING 101W
Language Learning & Teaching
UCLA
App-Ling
APPLING 102W
The Nature of Language
UCLA
App-Ling
APPLING 161W
Talk and the Body
UCLA · cross-listed Anthro
App-Ling
USP
Topics in Discourse Analysis
São Paulo
App-Ling
EMI
English as a Medium of Instruction
USP + U.S. DoS · online
ESL
ESL 28
English Through Language, Culture & Society
UCLA
ESL
ESL 33C
Academic Writing
UCLA
ESL
ESL 34
Public Speaking
UCLA
ESL
ESL 38B
Pronunciation
UCLA
ESL
Anderson
Business English — Speaking/Listening
UCLA Anderson
ESL
USP
Academic Writing
São Paulo
ENThanks for sharing your knowledge and jokes with us!
Paulo · USP 2024
PTObrigada pelo semestre — você é um professor cativante.
Júlia · USP 2023
ENLove the style of your teaching. As students, we enjoy inexhaustible knowledge and a facetious professor at the same time.
UCLA Linguistics 170
ZH感谢 Trevor, 祝一切好 — thank you for this great semester!
Junzilan · USP 2024
ENThank you for being the best teacher in my life. A lot more appreciated than I can say.
UCLA ESL student
PTObrigado pelas aulas incríveis desse semestre. Todo de bom!
Gustavo · USP 2023
ENBy far, Mr. Trevor has been the best T.A. in any class I have attended here at UCLA — and this is my last quarter here. He has been very fun, approachable, supportive, very useful, and has made this otherwise tedious class very enjoyable and useful to me. Writing has always been a daunting task for me but Trevor has made writing manageable, logical, and fun.
UCLA Applied Linguistics · 2011
Contact

Let's talk.

Email is best — I'm friendly and reasonably prompt. Open to speaking, workshops, guest lectures, collaborations on writing at the language ↔ energy intersection, and the occasional crossword constructor swap.

Emaillingua@gmail.com
Office1431 Pacific Hwy, Ste 2 · San Diego, CA 92101
Firmevolved.energy
WritingLanguage and Power · Substack
ResearchViz & publications
PlayMini crosswords
© 2026 Trevor Kann“You shall know a word by the company it keeps.” — J.R. Firth