AAE lecturer and PURT managing director James Goppert

Based on student responses James Goppert is the winner of the prestigious W. A. Gustafson Award for Outstanding Teaching for 2022. Goppert is an AAE lecturer and managing director of the Purdue UAS Research and Test Facility (PURT). The School of Aeronautics and Astronautics polls juniors and seniors in the student body to identify a recipient each year.

This award is named to honor Winthrop A. (Gus) Gustafson, who was a faculty member in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics from 1960 to 1998. He had a distinguished career of teaching and service to the School, including serving as the Associate Head and undergraduate counselor from 1981 to 1998. This award is made possible by the interest and generosity of friends and alumni of the school.

The rest of the top five recipients of student votes for the 2022 Gustafson Award are: Keith LeGrand, Sergey Macheret, Joe Jewell, and a fifth-place tie between Tim Pourpoint and Bill Crossley. The School of Aeronautics and Astronautics uses the Gustafson award balloting as part of our process to nominate colleagues for some of the College of Engineering’s teaching awards and the university-level Murphy Teaching Award.