Teaching & Mentorship

Courses taught, teaching philosophy, and mentorship activities

Teaching Interests

I am committed to fostering a student-centered learning environment that emphasizes project-based learning, real-world problem-solving, and the integration of cutting-edge technology such as robotics and machine learning into geosciences education. I am particularly interested in teaching and developing courses on:

Robotic Exploration in Geosciences
Natural Hazards
Natural Hazard and Damage Assessment
Programming for Geosciences
Applied Machine Learning for Earth Sciences
Remote Sensing

Gallery

Teaching

Spring 2024

Guest Lecturer

GEO 101 The Dynamic Earth

University of Alabama

Summer 2023

Instructor

Robotic Exploration Systems

Metavisionaries Academy

Taught robotic exploration systems in Metaversity (virtual-reality-based education). Worked with Dr. James Green (former NASA chief scientist).

Spring 2023

Instructor

SES 598 Autonomous Exploration Systems

Arizona State University

Fall 2021

Guest Lecturer

SES 230 Coding for Exploration

Arizona State University

Fall 2020

Graduate Teaching Associate

SES 230 Coding for Exploration

Arizona State University

Educational Training

GRD 593 Impacting Inequality: Inequities and Education

Arizona State University

Spring 2022

GRD 791 Preparing Future Faculty & Scholars

Arizona State University

Fall 2021

International Teaching Assistant Training

Arizona State University

Summer 2018

Mentorship & Supervision

Mentoring Programs

Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program

Summer 2024

USGS Earthquake Science Center Internship program

Summer 2024

Caltech Connection

Fall 2023 - present

Graduate Students

Deep Rodge

Master's student, Arizona State University

Akshay Sopan Mahalle

Master's student, Arizona State University

Yash Shethwala

Master's student, Arizona State University

Aravind Adhith Pandian Saravanakumaran

Master's student, Arizona State University

Undergraduate Students

Emily Stanton

California Institute of Technology

Charles Williamson

California Institute of Technology

Ernest Adjetey

California Institute of Technology

Frank Xiao

California Institute of Technology

Yunha Jo

California Institute of Technology

Mark Hu

California Institute of Technology

Moira Iñiguez

Compton College

Emily Etheridge

Marietta College

High School Students

Jana Al Saif

Safwa First Secondary School, Saudi Arabia

Publications with Students

Virtual Shake Robot 2: Benchmarking Physics Engine for Overturning Precariously Balanced Rocks and Constraining Local Ground Motions

Chen, Z., Mahalle, A., Saifullah, K., Das, J., Wittich, C., Kottke, A., Madugo, C., & Arrowsmith, R.

Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 2026 (In Preparation)

Benchmarking physics engines for accurate simulation of precariously balanced rock overturning dynamics and constraining local ground motion parameters. Student co-author Akshay Mahalle contributed to the physics engine evaluation and simulation validation.

Shakebot: A Low-cost, Open-sourced Shake Table for Earthquake Research and Education

Chen, Z., Keating, D., Shethwala, Y., Pandian Saravanakumaran, A., Arrowsmith, R., Kottke, A., Wittich, C., & Das, J.

2024 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, 2024

Development of a low-cost, open-source shake table for earthquake research and education applications. Student co-authors Yash Shethwala and Aravind Adhith Pandian Saravanakumaran contributed significantly to the mechanical design, assembly, and testing of the shake table system.