Philosophy

I have found teaching to be a truly rewarding aspect of my career. Serving as a graduate student adjunct instructor at NYU for four semesters, I have taught a variety of courses, ranging from General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry to Biochemistry. I have mentored multiple graduate and undergraduate students, earning the Outstanding Teaching Award in 2016. Throughout my time as an instructor, I have tried to follow three general guidelines for teaching: to inspire, challenge, and lead students.

Inspiring students is often the most important and difficult task of any aspiring instructor. A significant portion of my post-class discussions and office hours involved getting to know my students and their eventual career goals and aspirations. This allowed me to bring up topics that resonated with the students by involving cutting-edge research and other relatable developments in the field. Based on my experiences, I have found that nothing cements the theoretical foundations learned in a classroom quite like practical lessons.

Challenging students can take many different forms depending on the setting. For laboratory sessions, students can easily lose themselves in performing the required protocol. By quizzing them, I broke through their reverie and forced them to reason out the fundamental science behind each step. I remember my inner satisfaction when seeing comprehension dawn on their faces. Pure memorization without the application of theoretical concepts does not allow a sufficient grasp of the material. For recitation sessions, I presented practice problems designed to test my students in a reasonable, yet atypical fashion. My students appreciated my approach, as their eventual exams were created with a similar objective. Striking that balance between challenging students and letting them pursue their scientific curiosity is the cornerstone of how I want to train the next generation of scientists.

Leading students requires working harder than any other student in the class. I constantly reminded myself to view the material from the students’ perspectives and assess what kinds of questions would be asked in my sections. Every class is a learning opportunity for both the student and instructor. I approached teaching my classes the same way I would make them to show students that it could be done. Enthusiasm and dedication from the instructor will likely spread to the students.

I always encouraged my students to visit my office hours or approach me if they had any questions or concerns. Learning takes significantly more time than the short sessions we are allotted during class, so I offered them every opportunity for access. I also urged my students to participate in independent research as another way to integrate and apply classroom material to the real world. I have mentored undergraduate students from NYU and other schools during my research and observed that they learn science with much greater depth and breadth than by solely lectures.

While I could comfortably teach courses such as general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and synthetic biology, I would also like to develop a bioengineering laboratory course that would focus on either independent research or industry-relevant practical skillsets. Potential courses would include “Advanced Bioengineering Lab Techniques,” “Applied Synthetic Biology,” and “Chemical Biology in Practice.” I have found teaching to be a truly rewarding aspect of my career and hope to carry it with me into the future.

Experience

New York University

General Chemistry I Recitation | Spring 2014

General Chemistry I Laboratory | Spring 2014

Organic Chemistry I Recitation | Fall 2014

Organic Chemistry I Laboratory | Fall 2014

Organic Chemistry II Laboratory | Spring 2015

Biochemistry I Recitation | Fall 2015

Awards

Outstanding Teaching Award | Biochemistry I | New York University | Spring 2016