Jeff

Certified Tutor

I am a graduate of Goucher College, where I received my B.A. in Physics with a concentration in astronomy, and the University of Colorado at Boulder, where I received my M.S. in Mechanical Engineering. I have been tutoring and teaching on and off since my senior year of college. That year, I served as a supplementary instructor for introductory physics courses. I led weekly group tutoring sessions with 15 or more students, where we collaboratively worked on homework problems and practice quiz and exam problems. In 2012 after graduating, I taught science and outdoor education classes to children ages 9-14 for 5 months at an astronomy-themed camp in the mountains in southern California. During grad school in 2013, I was a teaching assistant for undergraduate engineering courses in fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. In the spring of 2014, I volunteered at a high school in Longmont, Colorado helping high school students prepare for AP exams in calculus and physics.

My background is in physics and engineering, lately with a focus on renewable energy and environmental issues. I love to tutor in physics and calculus because of the trickiness of the problems and the unique euphoria students can feel when they master the analytical techniques required to solve these types of problems. My tutoring philosophy is to empower students to feel confident in their own abilities, NOT to cultivate dependence or rote memorization. To do this, I tend to ask a lot of questions, utilize my sense of humor, try to get students to approach problems and difficult concepts in new and different ways, and emphasize rigor, devotion and effort. I believe that learning is about reaching inward into your belief and potential more so than filling in blanks correctly on a test. That said, I take approaches to conventional classroom techniques seriously and have extensive experience figuring out how to solve problems quickly and efficiently and perform well on tests. Overall, I see myself as a teammate as well as a coach when I tutor, to provide encouragement and empathy as well as guidance.

In my spare time, I am an avid rock climber and mountaineer, and my other hobbies include soccer, tennis, running, reading and writing. I love to stay active but feel nearly equally as comfortable with a good book.