Teaching Phylosophy

I have a great passion for teaching and it is a very stimulating experience for me. I believe that teaching is a process of mutual learning; and this is especially so in a research environment where we explore the limits of knowledge. Research exclusive of teaching is likely to be far less fruitful -- this is true of undergraduate teaching as well as graduate teaching. Teaching requires one to clearly state and explain concepts to the learner. This acts as a forcing function for the teacher to have these concepts clear in mind. Teaching requires appropriate abstractions of concepts to enable meaningful learning -- the process of forming such abstractions helps the teacher a great deal in understanding those concepts well. And these abstractions ultimately help in better understanding of the body of knowledge, and hence facilitate in expanding it through research.

Undergraduate Level

At the undergraduate level, I would like to teach courses with an emphasis on tangible short projects (for introductory courses) and 6–8-week course projects (for senior-level courses). These would help the students with hands-on experience, with a physical realization of abstract concepts learnt in class. Also, such projects would foster a healthy model of working in groups and mutual learning. I have benefited a lot from such projects during my undergraduate years, and would like to follow a similar model in the courses I teach.

Graduate and Senior level

In senior level courses and graduate courses, I would seek to enhance the students' perspective by inviting guest lecturers as appropriate. Further, I would encourage short write-ups and presentations to help the students develop their communication skills.

At the graduate level, my courses would have a strong research component to them. In addition to covering the seminal work in the area of research, I would also include material from recent and ongoing research. Significant design/implementation projects, seeking answers to a research question, would be a part of the course. In addition, the courses will be based on reading research papers, student seminars, and participatory discussions.