"Hello, my name is Aidan, and I recently graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara with highest honors and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the College of Creative Studies. My speciality is rooted in physics and math due to years of experience in pursuing these passions. Highlights of my academic background include UCSB’s full graduate quantum mechanics sequence, two quarters of quantum field theory, graduate statistical mechanics, and several proof-based mathematics courses in linear algebra and calculus. In addition to my coursework, I have practical experiences from working as a student researcher for two and half years, where I got to experience abstract concepts become a reality. My experiences have cemented my technical knowledge of my passions while also giving me insight into the learning process. I wish to use this background to help students succeed in challenging subjects and motivate them to develop long-lasting skills.

My experience in teaching comes from my time as a reader and learning assistant. As a reader, I graded exams and homeworks for an upper-division mathematical methods course for physics majors and an electromagnetism course for non-majors. These classes gave me a feel for how students of all levels approach problems, and what types of guidance would be most effective. My most direct tutoring experience comes from being a learning assistant. Learning assistants are attached to a class and assist graduate students during discussion sections, host small-group office hours, and prepare materials for exam review. I worked closely with students in both a mathematical methods course and the first undergraduate quantum mechanics courses by answering their questions and gently navigating them through their problems so that they could develop their own understanding.

Across all of these experiences, I would describe my tutoring style as patient and attentive. I prefer building intuition to memorization and want to foster self-confidence." less...