Irina: Tustin tutor

Certified Tutor

I am a very patient and thorough tutor, who is genuinely glad to help anybody eager to learn. My love for the beauty of mathematics was instilled in me by my mathematics school teacher, to whom I am forever grateful. My education background is in both mathematics and theoretical chemistry. I received a doctoral degree in chemistry from the University of Michigan in 2007. In 2016, I received a doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh. My favorite subject in mathematics is probability theory.

In 2019, I joined Penn State University Wilkes-Barre as an assistant teaching professor of mathematics. I worked there for four years, teaching various mathematics courses, including algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. As part of my teaching load, I also worked as a tutor, helping students individually and in small groups with their mathematics and chemistry classes. Prior to that, I worked as an adjunct instructor of mathematics at several colleges. I also tutored students privately on probability and linear algebra.

Recently, I completed the MicroMaster's program in statistics and data science, along with the applied data science program, offered by MIT. These programs introduced me to a variety of statistical and machine learning methods. I am looking forward to the opportunity to share the knowledge I acquired in these programs with students interested in statistics.

As a teacher I focus on explaining concepts and try my best to steer students away from the tendency to try to tackle problems by applying memorized rules. Once the concept or method of solving a problem is understood, it can be applied to thousands of other similar problems with only slight modification. However, there are no rules for every little variation of essentially the same problem. When explaining a concept I like to ask questions that lead the students to a better understanding of it and keep them engaged. I also believe that people understand and internalize concepts better if they put them to use. Therefore, I find illustrative examples and problems for students to solve on their own, before explaining them myself.

I would be glad to help you with probability, statistics, calculus, linear algebra, or other subjects. I prefer to prepare beforehand, so please let me know what topics and/or problems you need help with.