Teaching assistants (TAs) turn tough concepts into clarity. Through classes, labs, office hours, online discussions, and more, they offer encouragement, support, and guidance to Georgia Tech students on a daily basis.

The Center for Teaching and Learning honors this work through the annual TA Awards Competition, a highly competitive, Institute-wide recognition process for TAs across departments. The Center is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 TA of the Year awards below:

Graduate Student Instructors 

Richard Asiamah 

Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "My teaching approach is best described as interactive, engaging, and student-centered. I design my courses to keep students actively involved in the learning process rather than passively receiving information. I believe students learn more effectively when they are encouraged to participate, ask questions, and test their understanding in low-stakes, supportive environments...Overall, my teaching methods are grounded in the belief that learning is most effective when students feel motivated, supported, and actively involved in the classroom experience." 

Adair Garrett 

Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "My teaching methods emphasize active engagement, transparency, and structured reasoning. I use collaborative problem-solving and provide step-by-step thought processes because these methods help students connect with problems they may otherwise quickly forget after lecture. I use rubrics because they help make expectations transparent...My approaches are grounded in the belief that students learn better when the expectations and pathways for learning are clearly defined." 

Zachary Gazzillo 

Department: Physics 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "I aim to make the foundation of my class guided practice while limiting the direct instructional time. Here, after a brief lecture on a topic, I introduce a practice problem and offer a gradual release of information to help. After introducing a practice problem, I will prompt the students to brainstorm several ways in which they may approach the problem. I will then give them all time to work on the problem, and around the time that I would expect some of them to get stuck, I offer a hint or a suggestion on how to begin. I utilize this gradual release as a way to ensure that everyone is able to take full advantage of class time." 

Graduate Teaching Assistants 

Berkeley Chandler 

Department: Industrial Design 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "I believe that students learn best when they are empowered to take ownership of their learning while still knowing that external support is available to them whenever they need it. Along with that, I believe it is my job to help students not only learn the course material, but to mentor them as they develop the skills and mindset needed to successfully navigate their future endeavors...By modeling openness, curiosity, and clear communication, I aim to normalize the learning process as iterative and imperfect." 

Jessica Helmer 

Department: Psychology 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "In subjects like coding, which can feel like such an onslaught of unfamiliar, every-detail-important information, students can so easily get lost in the weeds of the specifics. Never-ending conversations about the technical minutia can leave students wondering what the point of it all is! Dessert-first strategies aim to get students capable of doing the rewarding parts of coding (e.g., being able to produce visualizations) as early as possible. Then, instructors can fill in the technical details, given that the fruits of those details will then already be so demonstrable...This has become a foundational principle and method in my teaching, and in iterations of this course I would hope to implement this more and more." 

Tran Duong Nguyen 

Department: Building Construction 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "I describe my teaching methods as active and practice-oriented, with a strong emphasis on helping students apply concepts. In my courses, I combine brief, focused instruction with hands-on activities and guided discussion so that students spend most of their time making decisions, testing ideas, and explaining their reasoning. I emphasize active learning because construction concepts, such as Lean principles, project delivery strategies, and BIM coordination, are best understood through experience...My teaching methods are guided by a straightforward principle: students learn best when practice is authentic, expectations are clear, and feedback supports improvement. By focusing on application, transparency, and ongoing support, I aim to create learning experiences that are both rigorous and directly connected to professional practice." 

Undergraduate Teaching Assistants 

Zachary Beddingfield 

Department: Biological Sciences 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "Because my primary goal for student learning is to ensure that students retain the big picture of how experiments spanning multiple weeks fit together, I engage students through active recall at the beginning of each lab using lectures followed by chalk-talk activities...This approach draws on educational research indicating that active recall is an especially effective form of learning for long-term knowledge retention. Additionally, these chalk-talks support students who benefit from visual representation and active engagement, and they incentivize students to remain engaged during the lecture portion because students anticipate being active participants in the coming chalk-talk." 

Trisha Tambe 

Department: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "I try to make the material relatable and targeted to each student because I know that we get students from a wide variety of backgrounds. A blanket approach to an introductory environmental science course would lead to many confused students, or students checking off boxes for credit and forgetting the class afterwards. For some students, this material may never show up again, unlike linear algebra or chemistry. Therefore, it is my job to make whatever I can stick; these concepts stick differently for everyone...I stimulate interest by seeing each student as an individual. It matters that each individual cares because these students have the potential to make a large impact. As someone who is passionate about what I study and the environment, it is my job to get students excited about environmental science so they apply what they learned for the rest of their lives." 

Jason Wang 

Department: Neuroscience 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "One of the primary course design and instructional methods that I have employed is scaffolding. Scaffolding involves providing students with more support and guidance at the beginning of the semester. Then, gradually, students are expected to independently complete the tasks by integrating prior feedback from instructors. The concept of scaffolding originates from Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development which is between what learners can and cannot perform independently. Thus, I believe in scaffolding because it provides students with space for growth without penalty to their academic standing." 

Online Head Teaching Assistants 

Vanessa Oguamanam 

Department: OMSCS 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "My teaching methods balances instrumental support with clear expectations for thoughtful, quality work, encouraging students to take pride in what they submit. I invite students to challenge themselves while emphasizing that they are learning within a supportive and inclusive environment. To reinforce this balance, my teaching methods prioritize clarity and transparency, particularly through the consistent use of well-designed rubrics. In large asynchronous courses, rubrics provide essential structure by clearly communicating expectations and evaluation criteria, reducing unnecessary confusion and anxiety while still allowing room for flexibility and creativity...When expectations are clear and feedback is actionable, students can focus more fully on learning, reflection, and growth rather than navigating ambiguity." 

Mursalin Kabir Rishat 

Department: Computer Science 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "My teaching approach combines structure with empathy. I use detailed rubrics and clear project instructions because transparency reduces student anxiety and clarifies expectations. When expectations are explicit, students can focus their energy on learning rather than guessing what is required...When students ask questions, I make an effort to reframe them in simpler terms and connect them back to core principles. I do this intentionally to ensure that no question feels trivial or unwelcome. As a student, coming from a background in economics and finance rather than computer science, I often hesitated to ask questions because I worried they might seem “dumb.” That experience informs my teaching: learning depends on curiosity, and curiosity requires psychological safety." 

Lucian Tash 

Department: Computing Instruction 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "In general, one way I like to assess student understanding is by hearing them describe for themselves what they think. I've also introduced a new type of question on exams in the last few semesters, a "free response" type question where we have students write a few sentences to either explain/justify their answer or describe a concept in their own words. Hearing the students' thoughts allows us to more easily gauge whether the student truly understands the content or not. I also think it is important to give students a degree of freedom, especially on out-of-class assignments. This lets students learn on their own, and I think it will make them more interested in the material and take away more from the course." 

Online Teaching Assistants 

Jack Hayley 

Department: Computing Instruction 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "My teaching methods aim to emphasize the use of individual critical thinking and deemphasize memorization and reliance on AI to perform critical thinking...[my methods] make the student consider the choices they are making when attempting components of our course, and get actionable feedback to help them improve." 

Shiva Mohammad Golzari 

Department: OMSCS 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "My teaching methods are student-centered and designed to help students build independence in a rigorous online environment. First, I use guided questioning to identify what a student has tried and where their understanding breaks down, because this helps students develop a repeatable problem-solving process rather than relying on answers. Second, I use just-in-time teaching by tracking weekly trends on Ed and preparing targeted explanations for office hours, because addressing misconceptions at the moment they arise improves learning efficiency in a large course. Third, I use rubric-based transparency in grading and explanations, because clear criteria reduce confusion and allow feedback to function as instruction. Fourth, I use process-focused feedback (what to improve and how), because in machine learning the reasoning and experimental design are as important as the final output. Fifth, I use follow-up and closure for complex questions by consulting course staff and returning with an aligned answer, because students should not be left uncertain in a high-stakes technical course. Finally, I prioritize a welcoming, professional tone to lower barriers to participation in an online setting, since psychological safety encourages students to ask questions earlier—before they fall behind." 

Tyler Warner 

Department: Biological Sciences 

How would you describe your teaching methods? "I would describe my teaching methods as transparent, structured, and application-focused. In a quantitative course like BIOS 4401: Experimental Design & Statistical Methods, students can quickly become discouraged if expectations feel unclear or grading feels unpredictable. For that reason, I prioritize transparency and fairness in both communication and assessment. When grading, I reference explicit criteria and syllabus policies so that students understand how decisions are made. When responding to disputes or questions, I explain not only the outcome but the reasoning behind it. My rationale is that clarity reduces anxiety and allows students to focus cognitive energy on learning rather than guessing what the instructor wants."