 I did my MA from India and then immediately sort of got recruited to start teaching in my alma mater in India in New Delhi and then there was no looking back. So I came here as a PhD student in the English department and I didn't know very much about Indiana. Purdue seemed like a really good fit because the English department and the faculty there really like I loved the work that they were doing and I was excited to come and join them. I think engaging with young people, it's getting them to recognize the tools through which we can examine the world and to be able to sort of collaboratively think about what it means to imagine more sort of just and equal futures. I have learned that I am good at being able to introduce students to complexity and to be able to sort of find the tools for doing that after they're outside of the classroom and outside of the university space. I've also learned that the university is a great sort of site for doing the work of social justice and diversity, equity and inclusion because in a certain sense the university space is the last time that we come together in this voluntary way to think new ideas right and I think this is where lots of innovative, creative, ethical work and thinking can happen together. So I like to think of the university not as a sort of cocoon from the world at all right but as a pathway into the world. The award is a very individualizing thing but I think for me it's a constant reminder that I am only able to be good at what I do because I'm embedded within a network of other folks who are just amazing at what they do. I don't think this award would mean anything if I didn't have students with whom I engage every day who sort of make the work meaningful and who take it forward into their own spheres of influence. So I think thinking about how we can combine what we do in our classrooms that are specific to interdisciplinary or disciplinary work and to make that relevant for a better world I think is what I've learned is the most important thing to me as an instructor.