"I graduated from Princeton University with high honors in Chemical Engineering. My father was having financial difficulties through my last two years of college, so I decided to go to MIT for graduate school in chemical engineering rather than medical school or going to work immediately. I wanted to go into environmental engineering, but it didn't exist as an independent discipline. The two professors that I wanted to work with left MIT, and I ended up doing finite element modelling of crystal growth. I just did not enjoy it, but I had enough will to beat my head against the wall for 7 years. After wasting my twenties, I found that I had a knack for communicating with teenagers and that teaching was a possibility for me. It wasn't an easy road, but I eventually settled in one community teaching AP Physics and Chemistry for 15 years. I retired early after 28 years of teaching, somewhat frustrated by how public schools are educating young people and not serving their needs. I have been doing a lot of tutoring in the last five years at all levels and I am struck by how unprepared students are and how new ideas about education like the "flipped classroom" and "inquiry learning" result in lack of skills. Students are not getting the ideas in a way that can carry over to other classes and applications, which, ultimately is the point of it all. A few years into my teaching career, I picked up a Masters in Physics Education which focused on how the content of a physics class can be transferred to students, not any secondary concerns. I love learning myself and have taken over 20 Edx courses to broaden my understanding. I am currently working towards a certificate in Data Science in order to start a new career, but I could see tutoring well into the future as it remains my favorite working activity.

I have training as a chemical engineer through the graduate level and have taught physics and chemistry at the high school and college level. I have a lot of experience actually using mathematics rather tha" less...