Teaching
I'm a dedicated and passionate teacher across a broad range of levels, from advising and mentoring young researchers to helping inmates learn skills that will help them integrate into society post-release. I have taught in a traditional lecture style and in a lecture-free, inquiry-based format (e.g., at Quest University — see below, and in the astronomy lab classes I taught in graduate school).
• I have supervised several undergraduate students' research, leading to four research papers that have been published in peer-reviewed journals.
• For the past three summers, I have co-organized the highly successful Undergraduate Summer Research Program at Princeton's Astrophysics Department. I interviewed candidates, matched students with research mentors, taught a research class that focused on skills such as Bayesian statistics and "how to give a research talk," and supervised research projects.
• In the fall of 2011, I spent a very enjoyable couple weeks designing and teaching an intensive course in astrobiology at Quest University in British Columbia, Canada.
• For the past 5 years, I have taught in the Prison Teaching Initiative at Princeton, a collaboration between Princeton University, Mercer County Community College, and the New Jersey Department of Corrections, that brings college courses to prisons.
• In graduate school, I was named the Astronomy Department's "Outstanding Teaching Assistant" in 2005 and was the Head Teaching Assistant in 2004. For 8 semesters, I designed, taught, and graded a laboratory astronomy class.
• Also, in graduate school, I organized Family Astro days and Public Observing nights, occasionally attracting as many as ~1000 attendants (for Mars-viewing events around the time of those ridiculous Mars will look as big as the Moon! internet "hoaxes"). In addition, I developed a pilot program to bring astronomy to elementary school classrooms, in partnership with the Anderson School in Manhattan (2007-2008).
Students supervised
• Katie Silverio (then a Princeton junior, now an Astronomy graduate student at Berkeley)
• Courtney Dressing (then a Princeton junior, now an Astronomy graduate student at Harvard)
• Sarah Wellons (then a Princeton junior, now an Astronomy graduate student at Harvard)
• Libby Tolman (then a Princeton rising sophomore, now a Princeton junior)
• Oderah Justin Otor (a Princeton sophomore)
• Morgan Presley (a Princeton junior)
Radio interview
with me about exoplanets on NPR affiliate WAMC
all papers (ADS) •
first-author papers (ADS) •
Google Scholar Citations •
LinkedIn
email: dddave@gmail.com • phone: (646)346-4610