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 for future coursework and for their careers.

During my time at UMass, I was heavily involved with the Undergraduate Course Assistant (UCA) program.

During the 2022 — 2023 academic year, UMass CICS converted its introductory course sequence from Java to Python. During this transition period, I had the privilege to help 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 apart of CICS’s first cohort of Head UCAs, and joined the UCA Program Coordination team to expand the Head UCA program to all 10 of CICS’s core courses.

Also during the 2022 — 2023 academic year, I served as a lead peer mentor on the Boosting Access to Data Science Scholarship Program (NSF #2130070), mentoring a cohort of five freshman introductory computer science students from underrepresented groups in computer science.

I have received a few awards for my teaching efforts. At UMass, I was recognized with an Outstanding Undergraduate Course Assistant award 4 times. In my final semester, I was recognized with one of the inaugural Lifetime UCA awards.

full teaching experience

Below is a full list of course I have TAd and graded for.

Georgia Tech

SemesterPositionCourse #Course Name
Summer 2025TACS 7641Machine Learning (OMSCS)
Fall 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