teaching
Teaching philosophy, mentoring, and courses
I view teaching and research as deeply intertwined. The same autonomous workflows I build for materials discovery are, fundamentally, structured ways of learning — and the classroom is where I help students develop both the technical foundations and the scientific intuition needed to drive that kind of work.
A detailed teaching statement is available here.
Mentoring
I have mentored 10+ graduate students, 1 postdoctoral fellow, and 2 K–12 students across my appointments at the University of Illinois Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, and the Colorado School of Mines. Many mentees have co-authored peer-reviewed publications, and two K–12 mentees (NAACP ACT-SO program) have earned national medals in Chemistry.
K–12 outreach — NAACP ACT-SO Youth Program
- Kudzi Makoni (Neuqua Valley High School) — Silver Medal, Chemistry, 2026 NAACP ACT-SO Competition; Bronze Medal, 2025.
Formal Teaching Experience
Colorado School of Mines, Department of Mechanical Engineering
| Role | Course | Term | Format | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Co-Instructor | Kinetic Phenomena in Materials (elective) | Spring 2017 | In-person | 30 |
| Teaching Assistant | Solid Mechanics of Materials (core) | Fall 2016 | In-person | 72 |
| Teaching Assistant | Advanced Mechanics of Materials (core) | Fall 2015 | In-person | 76 |
Courses I Am Prepared to Teach
Undergraduate core
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Solid Mechanics / Mechanics of Materials
- Thermodynamics of Materials
- Numerical Methods for Engineers
Graduate / advanced electives
- Computational Materials Science
- Density Functional Theory: Theory and Practice
- Machine Learning for Materials Science
- Multiscale Modeling: From Quantum Mechanics to Continuum
- AI and Agentic Systems for Scientific Discovery (new course I would propose)