Throughout my 5+ years at MIT, I have served as the teaching assistant (TA) for 3 observational astronomy classes, mentored first year undergraduate students in introductory physics classes, and taught middle school and high school astronomy classes for MIT's Educational Studies Program. Below you can find out more about each of these experiences!
TA for 12.410 at MIT
During the Fall 2022 semester, I was the TA for 12.410/8.287 at MIT, the undergraduate course on observational techniques of optical astronomy.
The course involved students learning about the basics of observational astronomy and designing, executing, and writing-up their own observational astronomy project.
As the TA, I took students to Wallace Astrophysical Observatory (WAO) in Westford, MA for weekly observing with the 14in and 24in telescopes, and I also assisted
with project design, data analysis, and write-up.
TA for 12.411 at MIT
During January 2023 and January 2024, I was the TA for 12.411, an undergraduate astronomy field camp that took place
at Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife during MIT's Independent Activities Period (IAP) in January. I assisted students with 8 nights of observing on 4 different telescopes (0.6-1.5m) at the observatory, as well as
with data analysis, interpretation, and final report writing. The photo on the right shows us in front of the Artemis Telescope, which was one of the telescopes the students used. At the end of the three week long field camp, the students' presented their work at the Instituto de
Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), which was highlighted by the IAC in this article.
Mentor for 8.02
During Spring 2025, I mentored two first-year MIT undergraduate students in 8.02 (introductory electricity and magnetism).
I assisted with weekly problem sets, helped them build time management skills, and provided exam preparation assistance.
As part of this program, I also completed a course on pedagogy and attended weekly mentor meetings to discuss best teaching practices.
MIT ESP Teaching
During the spring and summer of 2021, I was a volunteer teacher for two events through MIT's Educational Studies Program.
In one of these events, I taught 30 middle school students about supermassive black holes and active galaxies during a single hour-long class.
The other event consisted of three hour-long classes focused on various topics in black hole astrophysics, aimed at late high school students and co-taught with another MIT astrophysics PhD student.
