--- "Let students get 'stuck' and teach them how to 'unstuck' themselves!" ---
PHILOSOPHY
Real-world engineering and scientific problems by nature are complex and abstract. Thus, future engineers and scientists must be trained to identify problems, develop accurate mathematical and physical models, choose and implement the most effective solution techniques, analyze the data, and communicate their findings. They must also persevere, perform well under pressure, and embrace the challenges and failures throughout the problem-solving process. By no means can they violate their professional ethics and conduct. As a teacher, I always aim to mimic the real world, teach my students the transferable skills for solving a multitude of problems, and encourage them to ask questions and deepen their knowledge outside the classroom setting. My ultimate goal is to produce next-generation engineers and scientists who are excellent problem solvers and critical thinkers with strong work ethics. To give students the full problem-solving experience, I employ the 5-Cs method:
Create a welcoming environment for problem-solving: A welcoming environment in which the teacher and students feel safe and comfortable asking questions, making mistakes, and exchanging ideas is essential to any teaching and learning process. As a teacher, I respect and value my students’ unique identities and backgrounds, and continuously adapt my teaching styles to suit their learning preferences and career goals. From the first day of class, I enforce inclusive course policies and fair grading rubrics and clearly state my expectations. Finally, to ensure that students learn at their best capacity, I always strive to build connections and work closely with them throughout the process.
Connect conceptual ideas to real-world applications: A thorough understanding of theories and concepts is vital to building solid problem-solving skills for tackling engineering and scientific problems. However, students often lose interest early in the process because they fail to see the significance of the theories and concepts in solving practical engineering and scientific problems. Showing an application of a theory or concept before studying it in detail and revisiting the application when concluding the study are effective in helping students see the big picture of the applications of the concepts and keeping students engaged in the process.
Construct methods to do back-of-the-envelope analyses: Once students are familiar with the theories and concepts, I shift my focus to ensuring students can quickly assess the validity of scientific explanations and make an educated guess based on their recollection of the theories and concepts, and their physical intuitions about certain trends. At this stage, I expect students to be able to choose appropriate theories and concepts, make valid simplifying assumptions, carry out calculations and derivations, and draw conclusions from their calculations without constantly looking up information elsewhere.
Challenge students to solve seemingly “impossible” problems: Now that students can apply the theories and concepts to simple (academic) exercises, I intentionally assign tasks that will make students feel ‘stuck’. My role here is to help them recognize the potential flaws or pitfalls in their approaches but never to ‘unstuck’ them. Indeed, students are expected to build their own strategies to ‘unstuck’ themselves. At the end of this stage, students need to accept challenges and failures as integral parts of engineering and scientific problem-solving and see these challenges and failures as opportunities to enrich their problem-solving toolboxes and increase their efficiency in the future.
Convey the importance of technical communications: Properly documenting problem-solving approaches and conclusions is as important as finding the solutions to the problems. Thus, students are required to turn in a technical report and an archive of their work for every project I assign. Their final grades reflect their understanding of the problems, their level of confidence in their approach, the validity and creativity of their approach, the originality of their work, and their ability to follow submission guidelines.
The 5-Cs method by principle sets the teacher’s role to a problem-solving coach, ultimately holding the students accountable for their own learning and academic/career success and training students to be self-directed learners and independent problem solvers. I have fully implemented the 5-Cs method into my course designs at undergraduate and graduate levels, and I found that the 5-Cs method is an effective teaching method in that it allows me, as a teacher, to account for different learning styles, unveil students’ maximum potentials, and encourage students to produce creative/original work. As a faculty member, I find teaching to be rewarding, and I highly value well-designed and high-quality courses since they provide strong foundations for students to make research contributions. My teaching contributions are in the areas of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), aerodynamics, applied mathematics, numerical methods, scientific computing, and optimization courses.
AE/ME 655: Advanced Topics in CFD (Instructor, Spring 2023, Spring 2024) - [Syllabus]
This graduate course provides students with sufficient background and experience with the mathematics and implementations of Galerkin methods, adaptive techniques, and optimization methods for aerospace engineering applications. After taking this course, students can conduct research in the field and understand the scientific literature. Computer programming is required and is an essential part of the course. Students are expected to have some knowledge of numerical analysis, fluid dynamics, differential equations, and programming.
AE/ME 541: Fluid Mechanics I (Instructor, Fall 2022, Fall 2024, Fall 2025) - [Syllabus]
This graduate course provides an introduction to the principal concepts of fluid flows. Topics covered include a review of vector calculus and index notation, kinematics and dynamics of fluid flows, potential flows, low-Reynolds-number flows, boundary layers, exact solutions to viscous flows of incompressible fluids, stability and transition, and an introduction to turbulent and compressible flows. After taking this course, students will have a qualitative and quantitative understanding of physical mechanisms in fluid flows and be able to analyze the flow fields of interest. This course primarily focuses on the breadth of knowledge of fluid flows. Students need to take additional fluid courses to get an in-depth understanding of fluid flows.
AE 422: Aerodynamics (Instructor, Fall 2023) - [Syllabus]
This fourth-year undergraduate course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of aerodynamics. Topics covered include a review of vector calculus and index notation, kinematics and dynamics of fluid flows, potential flow, thin-airfoil theory, boundary layers, finite-wing theory, and an introduction to turbulent and compressible flows. Students will have a qualitative and quantitative understanding of aerodynamics.
ME 391/397: Engineering Analysis (Instructor, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2023) - [Syllabus]
This third-year undergraduate course introduces numerical techniques commonly used in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Topics covered include linear algebra, least-squares fitting, interpolation, root finding, integration, differentiation, solution of ordinary and partial differential equations, and Fourier series. Emphasis is placed on the derivation, implementation, and analysis of these numerical techniques. Computer programming in Matlab or a similar language is required and is an essential part of this course.
AE 210: Professional Topics (Individual Section Instructor, Fall 2019, Spring 2020) - [Course Handbook]
This second-year undergraduate course covers topics relating to professional responsibility, communications, and organizations. As an individual section instructor, I focus on helping students improve their writing and presentation skills to meet college-level standards. I created a writing and presentation best practices handbook and provided detailed feedback.
AE 201: Aerospace Seminar (Instructor, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2024) - [Seminar Speakers], [Course Notes], [Syllabus]
This second-year undergraduate course is designed for students interested in majoring and pursuing careers in aerospace engineering. As the first introductory aerospace engineering course, this course aims to give a broad overview of the field and the undergraduate curriculum, to equip students with basic engineering and job search skills, and to inform students about professional development opportunities and possible career paths. Topics covered in this course include brief aerospace history, aircraft and space flight fundamentals, engineering design and problem-solving methods, and job application and interview preparation. Instead of focusing on the mathematical details, this course emphasizes the conceptual ideas to help students build appreciation and intuition towards mathematical models and concepts involved in the study of flight. Through homework and in-class activities, students will get hands-on engineering experiences and have the opportunity to develop skills necessary for their academic and career success. A series of short lectures/talks and typed notes are provided to complement student’s learning experience. After taking this course, students can select their area of interest within the aerospace engineering field, develop basic engineering and job search skills, and understand the complexity of aerospace systems and the importance of mathematics and sciences.
Guest Lecturer
AEROSP 423 (Winter 2017): Undergraduate Computational Methods for Aerospace Engineering.
AEROSP 325 (Fall 2017): Undergraduate Aerodynamics.
AEROSP 225 (Winter 2018): Undergraduate Introduction to Gas Dynamics.
Graduate Student Instructor for AEROSP 325-Undergraduate Aerodynamics (Fall 2015)
Student review: 4.63/5.00
Held office hours to help students understand lecture material, tackle homework problems, and prepare for exams.
Proofread homework solutions provided by the professor.
Helped with grading homework when necessary and handled regrade requests.
Lectured in place of the professor when the professor was traveling.
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Peer Advisor (Fall 2010, Winter 2011)
Designed bi-weekly seminars and field trips for UROP engineering group to help students finding their specific field of interest in engineering, introduce them to the research community, and enrich their research experience.
Helped UROP students to find a research project and use university resources so that they could succeed in their freshman/sophomore year.
Acted as a liaison between students and research sponsors when problems arouse.