“If I do everything I can to get my students excited about the subject matter and give them even the most basic tools, they can come to understand complex ideas in a more organic fashion than if I spelled out every detail for them in lecture,” Ballard notes. “Not only does it make the act of gaining the knowledge much more satisfying for the students, but it prepares them for when they have to solve problems on their own as they start their careers.”

Ballard, who received his Ph.D. from Duke University in 2013 and held a post-doctoral research post in University of Notre Dame’s civil engineering department, will be teaching U VM undergraduates about dynamics, such as system dynamics and thermodynamics.

Teaching is a career that Ballard says he set his sights on during the second week he was in college. “Teaching at the college level is the only thing I’ve ever really wanted to do,” he says. “I feel extremely lucky that, at 29, I’ve already landed my dream job.”