Biography

From a young age, I’ve always enjoyed learning and helping others learn. From my earliest days in elementary school through my time at UC Santa Barbara as a physics major, my friends and classmates would often come to me for help working through math problems or science concepts. I appreciated these opportunities to both reinforce my own understanding of these topics and share the joy of newfound understanding with my peers.

Through the course of helping others, I heard many of my peers express the belief that they simply couldn’t learn certain concepts, particularly in mathematics. My desire to combat this notion played a large role in my decision to pursue higher education.

Throughout my time at Stanford, culminating in my successful defense of a Doctorate of Philosophy in Physics, I received more formal opportunities to serve as a mentor and instructor to others. I served as a teaching assistant for multiple physics classes and as a mentor for new members of my lab. Although the content and form of guidance I provided varied wildly between these contexts, what stood out to me was the importance of meeting students at their level and forming connections to what they know.

It is my belief that students learn best when they are able to express their misgivings and uncertainty about the subject matter without fear of embarrassment, and whenever I’ve been able to work provide an empathetic guiding hand to a student, they thrive.

While I am no longer pursuing a career in academia, I am still driven by a strong desire to support others and help them learn, which is what initially led me to AJ Tutoring. I have found it an absolute pleasure to work with students to share my passions and help them increase their knowledge base.

Outside of my time spent tutoring, I enjoy reading novels, playing board games with my wife, and playing and developing video games; my development efforts in particular have shown me that one never truly stops learning!