Teaching Experience
I got my first experience in a teaching-assistant-type job at the Pomona College Mathematics and Statistics Department in January 2019. In a mentoring role, I facilitated collaboration sessions between students and graded homework assignments. Upon arrival at UC Irvine Department of Mathematics, I have worked as a teaching assistant, leading discussion sections, preparing my own course material, and facilitating quizzes/exams.| Course Name | Quarter(s) Taught |
|---|---|
| Mathematical Writing (MATH195W) | F2023, F2024 |
| Math In The Summer (MITS) | Summer 2024 |
| Ordinary Differential Equations (MATH3D) | Summer 2024 |
| Calculus for the Life Sciences (MATH5A) | S2024 |
| Calculus II: Single Var. Integration (MATH2B) | F22, W23, W24 |
| Calculus I: Intro. to Calculus (MATH2A) | S2023, Summer 2023 |
| Introduction to Topology* | S2022, S2020 |
| Abstract Algebra I* | S2021 |
| Real Analysis I* | F2021, F2020, S2020 |
| Linear Algebra* | S2019 |
MATH195W: Mathematical Writing
An important part of my teaching journey was in restructuring the MATH195W: Mathematical Writing course at UC Irvine. With the guidance of Professor Roberto Pelayo, I reshaped the curriculum to center the expository writing course around community building and collaboration. Notably, I restructured the once looked-over final presentation assignment into a quarter-long capstone, facilitating weekly updates simulating graduate research practices for the course's 40 students. I also wrote the introductory resources for a 5-week crash course on $\LaTeX$ and Beamer.A version of these resources is available under $\LaTeX$ Resources These changes were largely successful, as is recounted by anonymous students in department-conducted final course evaluations:
This class was the best one I have taken at UCI and Sireesh was a huge part of that! He was super accessible to talk to and very encouraging. The lessons were engaging and his group work projects really got the students involved and working together. — Fall 2024, Mathematical Writing
Sireesh was able to keep what could have been a dry and tedious topic both fun and interesting. His energy and enthusiasm for both the subject and our individual successes kept me excited to return to class. — Fall 2024, Mathematical Writing
Sireesh led a huge number of small group discussions in groups divided by our research topics, and discussing our projects with like-minded peers really helped our papers and our growth as writers. [...] One little suggestion is maybe [he should] walk around the classroom less frequently, [as] it makes me feel a little dizzy... I'm working on it! — Fall 2023, Mathematical Writing
Selected Evaluations
The following are excerpts from anonymously submitted final evaluations conducted by the UC Irvine Department of Mathematics.He's a fantastic explainer. I'd go in to his office hours not understanding anything and would come out of them understanding everything. He's super approachable, too -- math can feel very intimidating at times, but one of the best things about him is he makes it feel a lot less scary. I can tell that he truly wants us to understand calculus and succeed. — Summer 2023, Calculus I
He would draw pictures and give several examples as to the theorems/subjects he was explaining. In addition, his upbeat tone and expressions made discussion extremely entertaining, which encouraged me to genuinely listen to what he had to say. I also felt that his down to Earth and approachable attitude to make me feel comfortable in asking questions/asking for further elaboration on all aspects of math. — Winter 2024, Calculus II
Outreach
Sharing the joy of mathematics has been a passion of mine, and one of the main drivers of my interest in the field. In high school, I spent a majority of my free time as as a mathematics tutor at Sigma Academy, a local tutoring center in my hometown. While at Pomona College, I continued this commitment by serving as the only mathematics student at the Quantitative Skills Center, offering extra course support in any mathematics course offerred at the Claremont Consortium. These experiences largely shaped the member of the mathematics community that I aspire to become, and motivated the community-building efforts I took on while in graduate school.
Directed Reading Program
Most recently, I have been serving as a mentor and organizer for the UC Irvine Directed Reading Program. As a mentor, I've run reading courses on:
- Winter 2024: Introduction to Topology
- James Bird, Cullen Kurzenknabe, Ahoora Tamizifar, Matthew Eimers, Matthew Blake
- Fall 2024: Learning Community in Point-Set Topology
- Kaylee Seojin Lee Kim, Bryan Jose Silva, Sasha Lin, Isabelle Nhi Tran, Ziqi Liu, Akshara Saha, Kian Bahramian, Crystal Tran, Tatsiana Barysiuk, Tommy Chen.
- Winter 2025: Learning Community in Algebraic Topology
- Cullen Kurzenknabe, Kaylee Seojin Lee Kim, Bryan Jose Silva, Sasha Lin, Isabelle Nhi Tran.
Service
I have served as the Chair for Undergraduate Outreach for the UC Irvine chapter of the AWM, a role in which I work closely with the UCI Undergraduate Mathematics Committee to host $\LaTeX$ seminars, graduate and professor panels, and information sessions on REU and graduate applications.