teaching

Courses taught at the University of Southern California

My teaching spans undergraduate and graduate mechanics and computational methods. I design courses around active learning—collaborative problem solving, live coding, and physical demonstrations—with the goal of connecting mathematical formalism to engineering systems students will encounter in practice.

Current Courses

CE 309 – Introduction to Fluid Mechanics (4 units, undergraduate)

Core undergraduate course covering kinematics, conservation laws (mass, momentum, energy) at differential and control volume scales, dimensional analysis, viscous flow, and potential flow. Offered each spring.

Evaluations: 3.47 (Spring 2023) · 3.19 (Spring 2024) · 3.66 (Spring 2025) (out of 4.00)

CE 330 – Computational Methods for Civil and Environmental Engineering (2 units, undergraduate)

Numerical methods for engineering: root-finding, optimization, interpolation, regression, numerical differentiation and integration, and finite-difference solutions to PDEs. Students implement methods in Python during hands-on in-class coding sessions. Offered each spring.

Evaluations: 3.40 (Spring 2024) · 3.41 (Spring 2025) (out of 4.00)

CE/AME 507 – Mechanics of Solids (4 units, graduate)

Graduate solid mechanics covering tensor kinematics, stress analysis, constitutive models, and boundary-value problems in linear elasticity. Students produce tutorial videos demonstrating their reasoning on selected problems, building communication skills alongside technical competence. Offered each fall.

Evaluation: 3.58 (Fall 2025) (out of 4.00)

Special Topics

CE 599 – Soft Matter for Civil and Environmental Engineers (2 units, graduate)

Graduate special topics course covering the mechanics of complex fluids and solids: polymers, colloids, surfactants, granular media, and electrochemical systems. Applications to muds, sedimentary rocks, cement-based materials, contaminant separation, desalination, and energy harvesting.

Evaluation: 4.00/4.00 (Fall 2023, 5 students)

I plan to develop this course into a permanent four-unit offering titled Mechanics of Soft Matter, targeting research-active students across CEE, AME, and Chemistry.*

Teaching Philosophy

Solutions to engineering challenges cannot be found in a textbook. I design courses to build engineers who can reason across disciplines, work through genuine uncertainty, and evaluate the quality of computational tools—including AI—rather than delegate their judgment to them.

Three strategies that consistently produce engaged students and durable learning:

  1. Connect formalism to reality — mathematical models are always tied to physical systems students will eventually design.
  2. Simple before rigorous — new concepts are introduced intuitively before full generality.
  3. Peer learning — students articulate, defend, and teach technical ideas to one another, not only to the instructor.