For many students, their introduction to earth science and environmental change begins in Max Christie’s classroom at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It’s a fitting role for someone who has always seen himself as a teacher first, which is only natural given that he comes from a family of educators. But Christie’s approach to teaching starts with a counterintuitive idea—not with answers, but with uncertainty:
“As a scientist, your job is to not know things until you know them,” he said.
As a student himself, Christie once planned to teach high school biology, but somewhere between that plan and his career today, a single college course in paleontology reshaped his trajectory—and set him on a path toward teaching earth science at a deeper level.
“In high school, I never had any sort of earth science,” he said. “And then when I was a sophomore in college, I took a paleontology class. And I fell in love.”
Christie still approaches his college courses with the mindset of the high school teacher he once planned to be, blending accessibility with depth in a way that reflects both his background in biology and his work as a paleontologist and stratigrapher. That approach has helped shape him into an award-winning educator, recently recognized by both the College of LAS and the Provost’s Office.