Teaching

Growing up, I have always wanted to be a teacher. As most of y’all may relate, I understood as a student how a great teacher can make you fall in love in a subject and vice-versa. Later in life I discovered my passion for science and research. It turns out there is a profession that combines both of these passions of mine — professor.

I enjoy teaching, mostly because I love interacting with the students. I love seeing their reactions when they learn something cool. The quiet wow from the crowd never gets old! Every day and every class room is different. But I consider it a mission/challenge for a teacher to work for the excitement in students eyes.

Compassion is the root of my teaching and mentorship philosophy. I think people of all backgrounds should be treated equally and have the same opportunities for whatever they want to achieve. I try to do is to identify the hidden gems in my class. They are often from marginalized groups, who are at times too shy to speak up. Complementing and encouraging these students and mentees goes a long way! Micro-validations are a great antidote to microaggressions.

I also think it’s important to educate myself and the community about important social issues. At Princeton Robotics, I rallied support from the School of Engineering to start a diversity and inclusion bookshelf. The bookshelf is an open reading space that has a growing collection of books on racism, classism, technology ethics, etc. I organize a biweekly spontaneous book club where attendees gather to read during the session and discuss what we’ve learned. It is a small initiative, but we have made a positive impact on the community. A few campus authors had reached out and donated signed copies to our bookshelf! Recently, a similar bookshelf was created by Dr. Hernandez at the Computer Science department!!