Personal Description:

I am a senior engineering software developer. I develop apps for advanced civil engineering applications where I continuously get to utilize my mathematical skills including calculus to solve specialized civil engineering problems. Mathematics has been my top passion ever since my first year in high school. Throughout my college studies starting with undergraduate and ending with my terminal PhD degree in Civil Engineering, I have amassed tremendous in-depth knowledge in almost every mathematical subject. I used to attend courses I was not required to for the sole purpose of experiencing the extreme joy of learning mathematics. I proved my excellence so much so that I was offered a full scholarship to pursue a PhD in Mathematics despite not having any earned degree in it. I have been very passionate about teaching/tutoring mathematics ever since high school to the point that I tutored in almost every subject I took.

Tutoring Experience:

My teaching experience started as far back as high school. Due to my excellent performance in the mathematics subject, I was continuously approached by my fellow classmates for tutoring. My passion for teaching kept growing as I advanced to college where I continued to tutor other undergraduate engineering and math students. The subjects I tutored included pre-calculus, calculus I, II and III, partial and ordinary differential equations, linear algebra, and discrete math. The next big step that enhanced my teaching experience was working as a teaching assistant during my MS and PhD studies. During this period, I tutored additional subjects including advanced engineering and numerical math, complex variables, abstract algebra, and real analysis. In addition to tutoring, I conducted weekly help sessions in various subjects including calculus II. As a post-doctoral research associate, I vastly increased my teaching expertise. I taught full courses in advanced civil engineering subjects, two of which were never taught at the department. This allowed me to gain thorough lecture preparation skills since I had to build the curriculum from scratch.

Tutoring Approach:

I believe the most important prerequisite for successful tutoring is the clear understanding of the strengths, weaknesses, and goals of the student. Students greatly differ from one another in terms of their prior knowledge and learning pace. I would always start by examining the student’s prior knowledge of the subject and then decide on the best way of teaching necessary to correct or enhance their understanding while building up on their prior knowledge. I would then gradually adjust my teaching style to better adapt to their learning pace. I also believe patience and continuous encouragement are important factors to a successful tutoring experience. Lastly, when it comes to math, it is all about understanding. Rather than having the student memorize the solution procedures, I absolutely make sure my teaching style is tackling the most important question of “why things are done this way?”. This will surely be the best way to aid them in solving problems that are not discussed in the tutoring session.