 I love sharing the reward of discovering the unknown with students. I mean, this same sense of discovery that drives my research is the very same that inspires my teaching. I'm a developmentalist by nature, right? It's in the department title. And so I've always been interested in learning and development and change. So something that I really love is the chance to get to work with students more than once and getting the chance to see them learn and grow and develop over time, getting to see their interests evolve, getting to see their confidence grow. I think interaction with the students is the most rewarding part of teaching. I do a lot of different things at my job and I enjoy all of them, but I think that part of where you're really making those connections is the relationships that you have with students. Those relationships are what makes part of my job the most exciting. What I enjoy about getting to teach at Purdue is I am a Purdue alum. I have all my degrees here from Purdue from mechanical engineering and to get to give back to the school that gave me so much is really a privilege that I don't take lightly. When you combine the reputation we have, the things that go on on a regular basis on the day to day that support world-changing research and life-changing engagement, I can't imagine being in the other place. Amazing researchers, amazing students, a tremendous infrastructure. I really do love Purdue as an institution. It means a lot to me to be at a public institution. I've spent my whole life in public education. It means a lot to me to be at a place that, you know, really tries to make education accessible to as many people as possible. What can you do at Purdue that maybe you couldn't do at another big public or a liberal arts college? I think that Purdue rewards innovation. And that's huge. And there will, again, it's this willingness to take a risk that so many other places are not willing to do. So the students here, I mean, Aeronautics and Astronautics is really one of the biggest programs in the country. Everybody knows all about all the astronauts that we've had, astronaut and alumni. I think the students come with that same kind of passion that I've got. You know, it's not hard to motivate our students to do the work. Do I learn from them? Absolutely. They enrich my life and I'm, you know, hoping that I'm enriching theirs. How do I make a student experience meaningful and valuable? I think the most important thing for making a student experience, both of those things, meaningful and valuable, is to convince them that what they're getting out of the class has value. They're not just sitting in a class to get a grade. They're not just sitting in a class to check another box off their plan of study, to get another entry on their transcript to eventually go and graduate. I really try hard to convince them that the stuff that they're learning in class is stuff that will enrich their lives. Maybe it will give them the base that they need to go off and be successful in their jobs, or maybe it'll just teach them a new way of thinking about the world, a new way of thinking about other classes that they have that they might not have even seen these connections before. It's not just a diploma and it's not just what you do to get the job. It's stuff that you're going to learn that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. So one of the most important values that I bring into the classroom is a sense of we're learning together. And learning together can only happen when there's a mutual trust. And that trust is made by maintaining a safe, welcoming environment where people are allowed to make mistakes. And I make mistakes and I correct them in front of everybody and I show that it's okay, because that's only how we learn by making a series of mistakes and moving forward in the right direction. And I'm the guide to help them make sure that they maintain the correct path. I was so surprised when I won this award. I knew I'd been nominated. It was honored just to be nominated and considered. It was just a huge surprise when everyone walked into the room and I saw colleagues, former students, the advisors, people that I worked with on a daily basis, my colleagues, and then my family showed up and Purdue Pete was there. And it was just like, it was such a neat day and such a great experience. So the Murphy Award means, I mean there's so many ways to describe what it means. I'm humbled by getting it. There are so many outstanding teachers across this campus. I work with so many of them. I've learned from so many of them. So to be recognized as a Murphy Award winner was just incredible. I put so much effort and time into my job with my students and so it's nice to be recognized for those efforts. What does the Murphy Award mean? I mean it's another piece of that validation. It means that my colleagues and the students said, hey Professor Crossley's done things that we think deserve recognition. So when I got it, I was surprised and flattered. I was so grateful when my colleagues in the Department of History nominated me. That meant a lot to me, that they thought I was a decent teacher. That was very moving for me. To get it was wonderful but I loved teaching and I would have loved it. If I hadn't have gotten the Murphy it would still be the same. I'd still love every moment I go into the classroom.