is credited by some as being the first to use the chalkboard as an instructional tool. He also used the "Elementary Course of Civil Engineering", translated from the course of M. J. Sganzin at the École Polytechnique, designed several of the buildings on the campus, and published A Treatise on Descriptive Geometry. Thomas Jefferson referred to Claudius Crozet as "by far the best mathematician in the United States." Life in Virginia Virginia Board of Public Works In 1823, Crozet was elected Principal Engineer and Surveyor for the Virginia Board of Public Works. He resigned from his duties at West Point, and brought his wife and two children (a boy and a girl) with him to live in Richmond, Virginia. Virginia's Board of Public Works was very active in promoting the development of canals, roads, and railroads. His work included approving various proposals and determining their engineering feasibility. At the time, Virginia extended all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ohio River and was the largest state east of the Mississippi River. It included what is now the State of West Virginia. Crozet worked on hundreds of transportation projects, such as the Northwestern Turnpike. Typical of his many projects of this nature was the Chesterfield Railroad, the first in Virginia, the plans of which he examined before Board of Public Works funds were approved. It began operations in 1831. In 1832, Crozet left Virginia to work in Louisiana. However, he returned to his old job in Virginia in 1837 to work on roads, canals, railroads and other points of necessity for the state. By this time, some railroads were already under construction and the canal system had reached its potential. He left office in 1843 after losing support of canal owners when he correctly forecast the future advantages railroads would hold for Virginia. Authoring textbooks on highway, railroad and aqueduct design, his 1848 map of the entire state was the first since the one prepared by Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas Jefferson, over a century earlier. Virginia Military Institute Crozet was one of the founders of Virginia Military Institute (VMI) at Lexington, Virginia, a major training institution for engineers and militia officers for Virginia and the South. When VMI opened in 1839, Crozet was the architect of the college's academic program and military organization. At its first meeting, the members of the VMI Board of Visitors elected Crozet president