An inquisitive notion towards the world around me is what motivated me to become an engineer. This curiosity drives
my interest to constantly learn new subject material. Through my TA experiences here at UNH I have tried to appeal
to the curiosity of the student. One of the ways that I do this is by getting students to have hands-on experiences. This
greatly reinforces the concepts that are being taught by allowing students to interact with the subject material. Another
way is by re-framing problems for students to engage them and show them the applicability of the underlying concepts.
This is helpful as students will relate to a problem in a number of different ways and as a teacher I must find the best way
to convey subject material. The other subject that I emphasize throughout my teaching is understanding and utilizing the
design process, which serves as a framework for bringing any idea to fruition. My Teaching Philosophy combines all of
these aspects to assist in developing students to their full potential.

Engage Students: During my time in ME 747, Experimental Measurement and Modeling, I worked to get to know
each of the students and understand where there interests where such that I could highlight varied applications of each
concept we taught. When I taught larger recitation class, such as ME 603, Heat Transfer, I worked to appeal to the
entire class by presenting new topics in ways that would make them active learners and not simply passive note takers.
For example, when explaining the use of Fourier Transforms and frequency space I played the class the song ’Money’
by Pink Floyd. I had the class listen for the different audible frequencies that make up the song. As a class we then
examined a plot of frequencies present in the song and then re-discussed. When we then discussed frequency space and
transforms they had a reference point for what these plots represented. By making class or laboratory material applicable
and tangible I was able to engage the students curiosity and have them connect with the material.

Hands On Experience: Another very important part of teaching for me, which goes hand in hand with engaging
students, is to provide them with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the concepts they are learning. I do this by
creating hands on activities or assignments which shows them the power of understanding the concepts and utilizing them
to accomplish a goal. In the Mechanical Engineering profession many career paths rely on a working knowledge of the
production and development of physical parts. Therefore in the fall of 2013 I helped create the Machine Shop Training
class, TECH 602, along with another graduate student and two professors. We all felt that the knowledge of fabrication
and manufacturing was an invaluable part of an engineering education. The class was designed to be a short 4 week class
with 12 hours of hands on training, such that it can easily fit into the already busy students schedule. During the class the
students fabricate two projects, which encompass all the necessary basic skills and safety procedures. Throughout the
years I have helped as a TA for the class and trained new TAs. This hands on knowledge is essential for an engineering
student as it truly engages them in the design process and gives them real world knowledge of how to create their ideas.

Design Process Thinking: Along with being able to understand and engage with the material students must also be
able to follow a logical series of steps to be able to test and communicate their ideas. I therefore work the thought process
of design thinking into assignments for all the classes I have TAed. This process gets students to understand the problem
and then, explore, materialize, test, and communicate solutions and outcomes which is all then repeated. An example
which works to combine all of these components is a project I helped create for ME 777, Computer Aided Engineering, in
which students design build and test a simple mechanism. The students are given a challenge (ie lift a weight), provided
with basic constraints and then they must design and analyze a system through computer software. Their mechanism
is then 3D printed and tested, and the students are incentivized by bonus points rewarded to the 5 lightest teams. This
projects get students to engaged with the material, and to utilize design thinking to create their very own unique solution
to a problem.
Engineering problems are characteristic of having a wide range of solution paths allowing for several correct ways to
solve any particular problem. By exposing students to varied ideas and methods to approach an engineering task, they can
connect with the solution path that best relates to their own thought process. Simultaneously, this requires engineering
students to have a firm grasp of both underlying fundamental concepts and their application to engineering problems.
By reinforcing the connection between concepts and their applications, when students are asked to solve engineering
problems in the work place, their approach will be supported by these connections made during their education. Molding
students into successful engineers requires the students to make both the material and their solution path their own. My
method for encouraging this ownership is to engage students with the engineering problem at hand and continuously
work to get them excited about what they are learning. In my teaching philosophy, I constantly strive to improve on my
methods and procedures such that the material never becomes stagnant. I do this by continually modifying my delivery
approach so that the subject material is communicated in a new, interesting, and relatable light. My overarching goal as a
teacher is to encourage students to explore and to think critically and logically about the world around them. I strive for
each Mechanical Engineering student that I interact with to leave UNH with the tools they need to both solve problems
and communicate their solutions.