Ben Burns

Teaching and mentoring

My teaching and mentoring experience

I am passionate about mathematics and computer science education, with an emphasis on high school and early-college coursework. I am particularly passionate about making introductory coursework accessible to students who enter college without significant mathematics background or programming experience (like I did), while ensuring that students exit the course with sufficient preparation both for future coursework and for their careers.

Teaching: I was heavily involved with the Undergraduate Course Assistant (UCA) program during my time at UMass. I UCA’d for ten semesters, serving as a Head UCA for three of those semesters. I also served as a UCA program coordinator, which entailed recruiting, interviewing and hiring new UCAs. A full list of my UCA and TA experience is below.

Mentoring: I served as a lead peer mentor on the Boosting Access to Data Science Scholarship Program (NSF #2130070), mentoring a cohort of five freshman students from underrepresented groups in computer science.

Course design: Going into my junior year, UMass CICS converted its introductory course sequence from Java to Python. During this transition period, I had the privilege of helping to design the new Intro to Programming course (INFO 190S, later renamed CICS 110) under the mentorship and supervision of Professor Tim Richards. During this time, I was a part of CICS’s first cohort of Head UCAs. In addition, in my role as a UCA program coordinator, I helped to expand the Head UCA program to all 10 of CICS’s core courses.

Teaching awards: At UMass, I was recognized with an Outstanding Undergraduate Course Assistant award four times. In my final semester, I was recognized with one of the inaugural Lifetime UCA awards.

experience

Georgia Tech

SemesterPositionCourse #Course Name
Summer 2025TACS 7641Machine Learning (OMSCS)
Spring 2025TACSE 6730Modeling and Simulation

UMass Amherst

SemesterPositionCourse #Course Name
Spring 2024UCACS 501Formal Language Theory
Winter 2024Head UCACS 311Algorithms
Fall 2023Head UCACS 311Algorithms
Spring 2023Head UCACICS 110Intro to Python
Winter 2023Head UCACICS 110Intro to Python
Fall 2022Head UCAINFO 190SIntro to Python
Spring 2022UCACS 121Intro to Java
Spring 2022GraderMath 471Number Theory
Fall 2021UCACS 121Intro to Java
Summer 2021UCACS 121Intro to Java
Spring 2021UCACS 121Intro to Java