Teaching

Over the last few years, I have taught and interacted with over 500 students in both lab and theory classes. All my teaching experiences have been extremely rewarding. I truly enjoy helping students learn and witnessing them develop into better physicists. I believe the best teachers should always be able to deconstruct complex concepts into simple terms and keep the audience engaged, and I strive to achieve that when I teach or give talks.

Excerpts from Anonymous Teaching Evaulations I Received

“Easily the best TA I have had in any of my lab courses. Great at communicating with us clearly and helping when we get confused.”

“I appreciate how great of a physics lab TA he was. He was always engaging with students in and out of class. Even checking in when a student missed lab section to ensure everything was alright so they can get their lab participation in. He is very understanding. I would highly recommend a lab section with Zirui.”

“Zirui is great. His discussions focused on the most important and difficult concepts we may have needed more time on which was very helpful and the slides he prepared were very clear - it was clear he put effort into his sections. He was extremely accessible during office hours especially leading up to the midterm and final which was amazing. He is a great TA and very kind too.”

“The most prepared and hardworking TA I’ve ever met. Zirui gives detailed review on the contents, and he is very willing to assist students on topics.”

“He was super nice and always made time to answer my questions. Super easy to talk to and always smiled at section.”

Courses I Have Taught

UCSB

Physics 6AL & 6BL: Experimental physics for biology/earth science majors and pre-med students. Taught lab sections on Newtonian mechanics, energy conservation (6AL) and simple harmonic motion, waves, and electricity & magnetism (6BL).

Astro 1: Led weekly discussion sections on topics including solar and lunar eclipses, the solar system, formation of planetary systems, stellar structure and evolution, and galaxies

Physics 4L: Electromagnetism and optics lab for engineering majors. Taught lab sections on topics including measurement of electron charge to mass ratio, AC circuits, and lenses.

Columbia

Grader for Physics UN2802 (accelerated introductory sequence for physics majors) and ASTR2001 & 2002 (introductory sequence for astronomy and astrophysics majors).