My teaching experience started 11 years ago as undergraduate student in 2004, where I used to teach and help my engineering classmates with topics related to: math and programming, back then I realized that my background in these two fields was very strong and these topics were easy to me to learn (that’s why I decided to become an Electrical Engineer!, since these topics are core for my major), and I consider them “mechanically thinking topics”, for example, programming in any language is basically following an algorithm that mechanically works in a logical way, and we have to use the specific code or functions following that algorithm, and is the same way for math classes, for one specific problem typically there is theorem that we can apply that was derivated already by a mathematician, where we have to follow a method in a mechanical way to solve a specific equation, well these classes have been easy to understand (well sometimes!) to me to learn and some students asked me for help very frequently in these specific classes, back then I realized that teaching is an excellent learning method for the person that is teaching as well, since always unexpected questions will arise and the respective topic is looked from another perspective, with these experiences I could say that I started creating my current teaching philosophy, that basically nowadays as Graduate Teacher Assistant is to instruct students in an easy way to learn complex engineering topics relating the theory in the books with real and current problems under a hands on oriented practice.

I graduated in 2005 with my Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Autonomous University of Baja California Mexico as summa cum laude (Highest honor), UABC, as is called in Ensenada Baja California Mexico, is one of the best public universities in Northwest Mexico with more scientist Ph.Ds. as professors, due to two very well-known national scientific research institutions are located very close to the campus: The center of Nano Sciences and Nanotechnology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education at Ensenada, (UNAM and CICESE respectively), some doctors from these institutions I could say were my professors and mentors who inspired me to become a scientist and pursue my Ph.D. in electrical engineering such as: Dr. Oscar Roberto Lopez-Bonilla, Dr. Horacio Martinez, Dr. Ricardo Chavez, and others. When I graduated in 2005 from UABC with my B.S.E.E, I was awarded a fellowship to study a Master degree and a Foreign language in my alma mater (fully tuition covered), then I got my M.B.A in 2011 and I studied 3 years of Japanese from 2008 to 2011, then I was awarded by CONACYT (The Mexican National Council for Science and Technology) as a Ph.D. student at USF Tampa FL., so far I got my M.S.E.E by University of South Florida in May 2014 and I became Ph.D. candidate in EE in April 2015.

My teaching experience continued working even in industry, but in this case was couching people working under my supervision, while I was working as a Quality Control Supervisor for a COVIDIEN that is one of the top 10 worldwide medical devices manufacturer in Tijuana Baja California Mexico, working there for almost 3 years I had opportunity to directly supervise and instruct 17 people in a business unit to perform Quality control measurements and apply statistical techniques to guarantee the quality of the manufactured products and ensure the reliability of the products in the market, this experience I could say sharpen my couching skills working with people, with different backgrounds instructing them following the same company goals.

My first official teacher assistant position was in spring 2013 for the EEL 4423L/EEL 5936 Wireless and Microwave laboratory class in the electrical engineering department at USF Tampa, this class is formed with senior undergraduate students and graduate students, the content covered is the same for the 2 different types of students, however the workload in the assignments and exam problems during the evaluations are heavier and more difficult for graduate students, this specific class was a challenge as a Teacher assistant for me, due to the laboratory class is based in measurements experiments of different RF and Microwave devices, hence is technical but at the same time it is a hands on experience for the different measurements instruments used applying the RF and Microwave theory knowledge learned in other classes such as RF and Microwave Circuits I and II, RF Measurements, etc.

My second teacher assistant class appointment was in spring 2014 for EEL 6935 Advanced Integrated Circuit Technology that is graduate class, for this specific term (spring 2014) I had 25 students, 23 Master students, and 2 Ph.D. students, and I was in charge of the laboratory section of this class, at this point I had already 5 semiconductor related classes and 5 RF and Microwave classes attended in my Ph.D. program, hence my knowledge in the classes that I have been teaching was improved as per my experience as student in these classes and my experience in my particular research as well.

After 17 different classes as Ph.D. student and with some conferences presentations, my teaching strategy is as follows in the laboratories classes that I teach: first, the laboratory assignments, pre-laboratory assignments, corresponding procedures for the lab, and the applications notes and journal papers are posted before each laboratory class, hence the students have time to prepare and read in advance before the session, and since the pre-laboratory assignment is due at the beginning of the laboratory class, usually students are introduced before the session in the topic for the day and the session becomes more interactive with more questions, hearing different perspectives, and like a debate oriented.

The second aspect from my laboratory classes is that I started with the attendance list, since all the laboratories are mandatory for the classes, and we perform real experiments, there is no way to do it (Online), hence I teach and I start collecting the pre-laboratory assignments and the respective post laboratory assignment for this week, as student I think the feedback is very important that’s why I try to grade the previous assignments and give back them to the student in maximum two weeks with the corresponding notes, corrections, and comments, this methodology with the pre-laboratories and post-laboratories applies for all the laboratories practices during the term, however when a laboratory class has CAD assignments these can be attended online accessing the corresponding software.

The third aspect of my laboratory classes are the scientific journal papers used as references, usually for example if we are characterizing oxides using either the HP4284 or HP4140B instrument, the pre-laboratory assignment will be related to which state of the art equipment could be used for the same measurements instead?, which brand?, what is an alternative method or procedure to measure the same parameters? For example, hence the student usually researches that kind of questions in advance the laboratory class, so by the end of the practice they are exposed in what is happening in the semiconductor or RF/ Microwave industry, what kind of instruments are state of the art, what are the prices of these equipments, what kind of capabilities they have, or methods are being used, etc.

The last aspect from my teaching method is that the laboratory assignments are prepared and explained step by step, following a procedure and a "ready laboratory assignment" where there are sections where the student should record with the readings given by the instruments, this makes the laboratory session more organized and the time is used more efficiently and we can cover more content during the session, and the 2 or 3 students in each team have opportunity to for example connect the devices with the probes using the probe station and microscope, configure the corresponding parameters in the software and calibrate and take the measurements with the instruments.

As explained above my main objective is instructing my students giving them the best-required support from me as an instructor to facilitate the learning process preparing them with a qualified engineering background, usually, they can visit me during my office hours specified in the syllabus or by appointment.

Related to the pop quizzes and final exam, I usually notify the students in advance and talk with them related to the content of these examinations, hence the students have time to prepare for the exams. All the laboratory assignments are performed in a team, however, the pre and post laboratory reports are individual assignments, the pre-laboratory assignments are due at the beginning of the laboratory class and the post-laboratory report is due one week after the laboratory class (unless otherwise announced).

All the files such as syllabus, procedures, laboratory assignments, application notes are attached in the specific teaching class in the main menu in this website.