In The Engaged Scholar, Andrew Hoffman asks us to consider the question, “Why did you choose to become a professor, and what kind of academic do you want to be?” (p. 23). In my case, my experiences prior to academia set me on a path that predisposed me to a particular academic role. As a research economist at RTI International, my job was to answer questions posed by federal and state agencies, utilities, or foundations. A common question was something like, “How much will it cost for industry to implement this new regulatory measure, how will the cost affect the price of the final product, and how does that compare to the degree of added health or safety it might provide?”