Biography

As someone who always enjoyed science and math, I started tutoring in my Junior year of high school, supporting students in the math classes that I had taken over the previous two years. In college, I started my professional tutoring career working at the Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Association Center, tutoring students in calculus, physics, and chemistry. I also worked at an after school tutoring center to accelerate high school students’ learning in math from Pre-Algebra through AP Calculus. 

I earned my bachelor’s degree in physics from UC Santa Cruz. During my AP and college-level physics and calculus courses, I began to realize how math can be used to describe the world at the most fundamental level. Derivatives developed from interesting ways to describe functions to requirements for describing equations of motions. Sinusoidal waves went from random functions I memorized by repeating SOHCAHTOA to the way to describe the electric and magnetic fields of a photon. Even as someone who loves math, I found the ways in which math is found at every point in the world around us to be a revelation.

I realized that in teaching math and physics to students we do not always place enough emphasis on the “why.” However, it is necessary to help students, especially those who say “I’m not a math person,” to see the deeper significance of what they are learning. Not only does it make the hard work that it takes to learn math feel worthwhile, but it is fundamental to attaining a deep understanding of the subject and the world at large. I enjoy bringing this perspective to my sessions and helping my students develop this level of understanding.