professors: jian-gang (jimmy) zhu, mark budnik, greg kesden, tom zajdel

tools: a little bit of everything :P
course website

I first took 18-100: Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering during my very first semester at Carnegie Mellon. For me - as for the vast majority of incoming students - this class was the gateway. 18-100 holds a unique, critical opportunity: it doesn’t just teach the basics of circuits and code; it inspires students to pursue ECE studies. It sets the table for the study skills, collaborative practices, and problem-solving mindsets they will carry through the rest of college and their lives.

Because of this, the core philosophy of 18-100 centers on close, personal mentorship between TAs and students. Rather than relying on distant lecturing, the course structure facilitates learning through small-group lab sessions, highly available office hours, and a dedicated team of TAs who support students beyond the technical scope of basic circuit analysis or programming. TAs and students frequently collaborate late into the night and over weekends—and genuinely love doing so.

Furthermore, as an introductory class, 18-100 recruits mostly freshman and sophomore TAs. This creates a double-sided mentorship model: it gives first-year students accessible, near-peer role models, while providing the young TAs a space to discover a genuine passion for teaching and helping others, all while reinforcing their own understanding of fundamental engineering concepts.

teaching assistant

My own desire to give back to this community led me to join the course staff as a Teaching Assistant (TA), serving from August 2023 to January 2025. In this role, I focused on building supportive learning environments by:

  • Leading small group lab sections and recitations to break down complex theory into intuitive, practical steps.
  • Conducting office hours where I focused on guiding students to solve their own circuit debugging problems, encouraging patience and persistence.
  • Mentoring students through academic transitions, helping them adapt to CMU’s rigorous environment.
  • Grading assignments, lab reports, and exams with detailed feedback, treating grading as an extension of teaching rather than just evaluation.

head teaching assistant

Building up this deep, hands-on pedagogical experience—on top of having first walked in the students’ shoes—prepared me to transition into the Head TA role, which I held from January to December 2025. As Head TA, I had the privilege of helping set the direction of the class, managing overarching course logistics, and mentoring the next generation of educators:

  • Mentoring other TAs on effective teaching practices, active listening, and how to best support students through academic adversity.
  • Setting the class direction alongside the faculty to keep the course content modern, engaging, and supportive of student mental health. The teaching staff even established a custom course mascot, Wattson!

Wattson Photo
Wattson with a multimeter. Thank you to Michelle and Angie for designing our many stickers!

  • Developing course material, collaborating with professors to refine lecture slides, homework questions, and hands-on lab experiments.
  • Managing course logistics, including coordinating the organization of lab equipment, distributing grading assignments among a team of 40 TAs, and overseeing grade book management.

resources

During my time on the 18-100 staff, I developed several custom resources and tools in addition to homeworks, labs, and exams:

photos

Fall 2025 Staff
Fall 2025 Staff Photo.

Fall 2024 Staff
Fall 2024 Staff Photo.

Fall 2023 Staff
Fall 2023 Staff Photo.

acknowledgements

A special thank you to all the students, fellow TAs, staff, and professors who made 18-100 such a special experience - one that uniquely shaped my time at CMU.

To Megan, Bex, Malcom, and the entire ECE academic services and logistics teams: thank you for your support at every turn, and apologies for the endless late-night lab crises.

To the TAs and students I had the pleasure of working with: thank you for your patience, passion, and care. You will go far.

To the head TAs before myself - Nora, Owen, Liam, and Kaitlyn: thank you for always being such an inspiration, and for shielding the TA staff so they could focus on teaching.

To my fellow head TAs - Julius, Shirley, and Calla: thank you for the mutual support. It was an absolute privilege to lead alongside such a dedicated team.

And above all else, thank you to the professors - Jimmy Zhu, Mark Budnik, Greg Kesden, and Tom Zajdel - who gave me this opportunity and mentored, reassured, and supported me every step of the way. Thank you for always being there, through both the triumphs and the challenges.