As an educator, I strive to keep in mind the ultimate goals of engineering education: engineers who apply what is known and are prepared to think deeply about the “what” and the “how” of the yet unknown. These qualities come only as the result of significant effort (and even struggle) by students, scaffolded with clear guidance and encouragement, as suggested by literature on self-determination theory. Because generative AI provides shortcuts to many traditionally effort-intensive educational tools, such as homework and essays, I follow conversations about how to ensure students get meaningful opportunities to exercise themselves.
I strive to continually improve my skills as a teacher, whether in other contexts (like teaching board games to friends and family) or in engineering: my desire to teach is rooted in my desire to pay forward the mentoring and guidance that shaped me in the formative years from high school to college. This pushes me to provide classroom environments where information flow is not unidirectional: even the most effective one-way lecture cannot compete with courses that ask students to actively participate. This will help provide the structure and freedom which are both necessary for students to find excitement and connect material to their interests.
I would be excited to teach courses (whether introductory or advanced) on mathematical techniques and computational tools used in engineering, as well as courses in transport phenomena or thermodynamics. I am a proponent for teaching every engineer programming skills: an engineer can tackle a much broader class of problems with Python than they can with Excel, particularly if they leverage open-source tools. I also enjoy leading lab work, as is key to any engineer’s training: the junction of mathematical theory and live practice has been a recurring theme in both my research and teaching. That said, what I love most is seeing the moment when a student’s struggle comes to fruition, which is not exclusive to any topic.
Graduate-level elective, Purdue University, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2025
My duties included:
Tutorial on lyophilization to industrial representatives, LyoHUB, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, 2024
I taught two hour-long sessions as part of a 2-day workshop on lyophilization:
Masters-level lecture, Purdue University, Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, 2024
My duties included:
Undergraduate lecture with lab portion, Purdue University, Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, 2022
My duties included:
Undergraduate lab course, Brigham Young University, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2021
Handled most of student questions, with some supervision from professor and lab manager. Graded student submissions for lab reports.
Undergraduate lab course, Brigham Young University, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2020
Handled most of student questions, with some supervision from professor and lab manager. Graded student submissions for lab reports.