 Stepanov was also strongly influenced by Nikolai Lusin.In 1912 he undertook further study at the University of Göttingen where he attended lectures by Edmund Landau and David Hilbert.In 1915 he returned to Moscow and became a docent at Moscow State University, where he worked closely with Egorov until 1929 when Egorov was dismissed from his position as director of the Institute of Mechanics and Mathematics.