Teaching and Mentoring Experience

Below is a list of courses I have taught and projects I have mentored undergraduates on. This list is indexed based on institution; see my CV for more information.

Caltech

Undergraduate mentoring

  • Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURFs), 2017-2018
    • Using machine learning to improve LIGO data quality
    • Modeling of kilonova light curves to improve parameter estimation
    • Next-generation LIGO designs and identifying statistical and systematic uncertainties from detector calibration that affect cosmography measurements
    • Constraining binary black hole merger scenarios that predict optical, X-ray, or γ-ray counterparts
  • Independent Study, 2016-2017
    • Topics included radiation of gravitational waves; tidal deformation; equation of state models for white dwarfs and neutron stars; the compact object mass–radius relationship; the Chandrasekhar mass limit for white dwarfs; mass and spin constraints from electromagnetic counterparts of black hole–neutron star mergers
    • Materials hosted on GitHub

Courses

  • Caltech LIGO SURF training, 2017-2018
    • Series of lectures designed to introduce 20 undergraduate researchers to gravitational wave astronomy
    • Topics included an overview of the LIGO detectors; an introduction to signal processing, including Fourier analysis and power spectral densities; and multimessenger astronomy using GW150914
  • Guest lecturer: Vibrations and Waves, 2017
    • Topics included dispersion, dispersion relations, musical instruments, sympathetic resonance, Fourier series, and Chladni waves

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Undergraduate mentoring

  • Student researcher, 2015-2016
    • Design and test software to cross-reference known γ-ray sources against LIGO data

Courses

  • Physics I: Mechanics (lab component), 2010-2014
    • Lab component to a standard first-semester intro course for physics majors
    • Gave input to syllabus design
  • Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism (lab component), 2011-2015
    • Lab component to a standard second-semester intro course for physics majors
  • Physics for Everyday Life (lab component), 2015
    • Intro level lab-based approach for non majors that relies on students’ daily experience
  • Guest lecturer: Gravitation, 2012
    • Advanced graduate-level course on general relativity
    • Topics included black hole dynamics and interiors, the focal point of my research at the time