"Hello!

My name is Mathias and I am a current PhD Candidate in Cancer Biology with a background in microbiology, molecular biology, and general integrative biology. With this training came many years of math (pre-algebra- calculus) and chemistry (general chemistry-organic) and finally a lot of writing (grant, argumentative, persuasive).

My career goals have remained constant from high school continuing to the present - to join with change we are seeing in the professoriate. I aim to join my peers in filling college classes with professors that understand the difficulties of the student experience while delivering information in memorable and attainable ways. To gain experience in the evolution of students I've tutored at the freelance high school level, at the high school volunteer level and as a paid college tutor for the Office of Minority Student Affairs at UIUC for 2, 2, and 4 years respectively.

Students go to tutors to attempt understanding a concept that has already been presented. My job is to think of other ways to present this information. I find mnemonics, interactive models, and real world applications to be the most effective here. Tutors need to be adaptable to the tutee's needs. In working with students who come from historically marginalized communities, I find trying a mix of hands on, verbal, theoretical, and model based learning in order to use the techniques that best work for the tutee coupled with transiency and communication to be very effective.

I've mainly worked in-person with 1-on-1 based session (5+ years) and 2 years of tutoring via zoom and google hangouts. During my time tutoring in undergrad, I had an average student grade increase of 5-10% earning me several titles of most valuable tutor, the Helping Others Prosper through Education (HOPE) award and the award for student leadership in peer mentoring from the Latino student organization." less...