Teaching


My favorite part about teaching is connecting with my students. If I can give someone a meaningful experience, 

I'm happy. 

Past Courses

SPARK 10 : Inclusive Innovation 

Led multiple sections of an inclusive innovation course, fostering design thinking and teamwork skills among diverse first-year students. Mentored by experienced faculty, actively contributing to course pedagogy and student development. Guided student presentations addressing real-world challenges through poster presentations. Advocated and facilitated broader participation beyond engineering majors, encouraging diverse problem-solving.

Instructor of Record for Fall 2023 in the Center for Advancing Diversity in Engineering (UC Merced) 


PHYS 008: Introductory Physics I for Physical Sciences

Introduction to classical and contemporary physics. Intended for students with preparation in calculus and algebra. Topics include introduction to forces, kinetics, equilibria, fluids, waves, and heat. Experiments and computer exercises are integrated into the course content.

Teaching Assistant, Lecture Assistant for Fall 2022 at University of California, Merced

PHYS 009: Introductory Physics II for Physical Sciences

Continuation of introduction to classical and contemporary physics. Topics include introduction to electricity, magnetism, electromagnetic waves, and optics.

Teaching Assistant for Fall 2020 at University of California, Merced

PHYS 151: Mechanics and Heat

Kinematics, Newton's Laws, rotational motion, fluid statics, laws of thermodynamics.

Learning Assistant for Spring 2020 at California State University, Long Beach

Pedagogy

PHYS 390: Exploring Physics Teaching at California State University, Long Beach

Testimonials

"They have been very supportive and empathetic when it comes to helping us on assignments and answering questions,"

"She was absolutely amazing! Easy to engage with and brings up great ideas for our research activities. I also felt it was easy to ask her questions and felt like she wanted us to learn."

"She asks if everyone is doing good and works one-on-one with people or groups that need help."

"Very helpful. If you are stuck she will do what she can to nudge you in the right direction and really think about the problem without just telling you what to do. Great TA,"

"What the TA has done to help us learn is be there for us when we get stuck. We have the freedom to work but the safety that the TA will be there if we get stuck. We learn from our mistakes because she is there for us."

"I like that she gives us our space but still comes by everyone's tables to check in with us. Her explanations are concise and simple, which makes it easier to understand the material. Micah is also very approachable with questions."

Mentorship

Carina Kumpf - Undergraduate, Sierra College (Summer 2022)

I was fortunate enough to have Carina as my first REU student. She was an excellent mentee - curious and driven. She began the summer with no coding experience and by the end of it had generated many gorgeous plots using Python and FIRE data. I felt uniquely situated to help her get started with research as I, myself, had begun my REU without coding experience but by the end of it had learned so much. It felt rewarding to curate a meaningful and timely program that would equip Carina with sufficient tools to dive into research. Her topic was deeply relevant to my broad interests: characterizing disequilibria signatures in FIRE galaxies. She implemented Jason Hunt's code to visualize phase space spirals in FIRE galaxies. She was able to find these signatures of disruption in the galactic disk and most notably that they persist in our simulations over billions of years.