Description: During my graduate studies at the University of Southern California (USC) and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), I have had the opportunity to not only engage in cutting-edge research but also shared my knowledge with fellow researchers and, most importantly, with young and aspiring students. I have served as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for several courses, instructed multiple workshops and mentored students with backgrounds that ranged from architecture to civil engineering. In this statement, I initially describe my teaching experience and responsibilities I took upon throughout my graduate studies and then lay out my philosophy as an educator. At USC, I had the opportunity to serve as a TA for 2 graduate level and 2 undergraduate level courses at the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The graduate level courses that I served as a TA were part of the Masters in construction management and include: Project Controls- Planning and Scheduling (CE 555) and Sustainable Design and Construction (CE 469). The undergraduate level courses that I served as TA include: Introduction to Computer Engineering Graphics (CE 103) and Building Science II (ARCH305b) which was in conjunction with the School of Architecture. These courses gave me the opportunity to work with students that had different academic (engineers and architects) and cultural backgrounds.

By working with a diverse group of students, I learned that different styles of communication are needed to effectively provide every student with a good learning experience. Addressing this challenge greatly improved both my communication and technical skills as a teacher. In addition to CEE courses, I have co-instructed with D. Gerber design studio-courses at the School of Architecture at USC. These courses included: a) Parametric Design (ARCH590), b) Special Topics-Informed Form (ARCH490) and c) Directed Research-Performance Based Design (ARCH599). My responsibilities included formulating the research topics as well as providing technical instructions and tutorials for assisting the students in their projects. By serving as a TA and Instructor for these classes, I had the opportunity to work with 3 different experienced faculty members, who introduced me to various different teaching philosophies and methods to manage students, as well as taught me how to prepare and grade course materials.