Teaching Experience

Teaching experience:

I have served as a teaching assistant (TA) in the class of Transportation Phenomenon (ABE 341) in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). For the class of ABE 341, I have designed weekly worksheets for students, conducted office hours, worked with students on their lab projects, and graded homework and worksheets. As a TA for ABE 341, I noticed that effective communication is a key element to help students understand fundamental theories (e.g., fluid dynamics) and accomplish lab projects successfully. A smooth communication can inspire students’ potential and establish their confidence. For example, I always encourage students to ask questions whenever they feel confused. By asking questions, students can articulate what they have learnt and identify the part that they did not well digest. Further, I learned that working as a team to solve problem sets usually can help students develop critical thinking skills and address problems more efficiently. For instance, I used to host office hours right before the due date of the homework and invited students to come and work on those difficult problems together. I found out that students can develop critical thinking skills more efficiently by exchanging ideas and learning to analyze the same problem sets from different point of view.

Additionally, I have served as a leading instructor for a three-week Research Apprentice Program (RAP) and guest TA for several class projects (ABE 100, ABE 225, ABE 397, CEE 398, and TSM 421) in UIUC. As an instructor and a guest TA, I usually inspire students by asking questions and give solid examples to initiate their interest and make them realize why the subject matters to our life. While literature review and experiments are generally required in class projects, field trips and facility tours can further expand the students’ horizon by exposing them to real-world projects. Through lab activities and interaction with industrial partners/researchers, students gained knowledge on processing, distribution, and waste management system, particularly about biowaste treatment and biomass conversion for a sustainable food-energy-water nexus. The effectiveness of my teaching activities can also be supported by that several of my mentees have been awarded the best team award in class projects/program, while I am so honored to receive the Teaching Excellence Award when working with them (please refer to my CV).

Mentoring experience

By participating a multidisciplinary research programs in UIUC, joining the algae club in my home department, and involving with SWE (Society of Women Engineers) on campus, I was very fortunate to have ample opportunities to mentor or work with students from high school to different levels of undergraduate students. As providing technical training and helping them develop research topics, I always benefit from the mutual beneficial discussion. Students often inspire me from a different point of view. This mutually beneficial discussion has been a cornerstone of my research career. For example, when I worked with my first undergraduate, sparked by her previous experience on centrifugation, we began to develop a more sustainable pretreatment technique, combining centrifugation and ultrasonic processes, for improved bioenergy conversion efficiency from algal biomass. Another instance is that I have further advanced my knowledge on gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) by instructing several students on using this equipment for analyzing biocrude oil and volatile aqueous product. Teaching and mentoring are not only a give-and-take process but also an interactive and mutual beneficial discussion with the mentees at the same time.