"I have a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park campus. I worked in the Anne Arundel Community College math tutoring lab for 6 years, from 2001-2007, from before starting at the community college until I got my job offer after graduation from the 4-year school. I had walk-in tutoring students for everything from remedial pre-credit math courses through second semester calculus, physics, and chemistry students, because I was reliably available and could help. I occasionally also had private tutoring referrals, ranging from elementary school students through working professionals brushing up for a certification. I am delighted to help an entire study group simultaneously, including a group with mixed subject matter, because the variety is fun for me.

I spent 14 years as a patent examiner, and there was a surprisingly large amount of skill overlap with tutoring, because many attorneys and agents were experts in the patent law aspect but not in the engineering associated with the inventions themselves. I am now a registered patent agent, and offer patent application tutoring for inventors who prefer to interact with the patent office directly instead of through an agent or attorney.

I have never taught a class, and have always felt that for many students, a teacher is the mean person who assigned homework that doesn't make sense, while a tutor is the nice person who helps you understand it.

I also appreciate terrible jokes that are useful. Things like "three cats are sitting on a roof. Which one slides off first?

answer: the one with the smallest mu. And now, you will never forget that the Greek letter mu is the coefficient of sliding friction." less...