As a future professor, I hope to cultivate a student centered environment of learning, that encourages students to be curious and ask questions, and provide a comfortable space for students to learn from their mistakes. I will adapt my teaching and mentoring style as needed, to ensure I am not rigid in my methods. 

Furthermore, as someone of Puerto Rican descent, I understand the value of representation and the need to foster an inclusive learning setting.  I will continue to commit myself to outreach and helping those that have been historically underserved in science, technology, engineering, and math. 

I led weekly recitations for three core undergraduate courses as a Teaching Assistant (TA) in the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum: Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, Introduction the Thermodynamics, and Heat and Mass Transfer. In recitations, typically composed of 30 students, I went through problems related to concepts covered in lecture and their homework assignments, effectively deploying an active learning style. As a TA, I engaged with my students during the example problems and promoted student-centered learning by encouraging questions and asking for their guidance during the problem-solving steps.

The success of my teaching is reflected in positive feedback from anonymous student evaluations: “Having had Justin as a TA for [thermodynamics] and now heat transfer, he is definitely one of the best TAs I have had in [the department]. He always is really prepared for recitation and can even teach us concepts that we had not covered in lecture yet. His explanations are clear and concise and his board work/PDF uploads are super clear and easy to read”. 

Even with the COVID19 Pandemic impacting learning, I adapted my teaching philosophy to the virtual classroom to great success, applying many of the same techniques I use when in-person teaching, and was voted a finalist for the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. 

At Penn, I worked with an undergraduate researcher to conduct a small numerical experiment in which I provided incremental guiding steps and allowed for their curiosity to drive the research direction. I held weekly meetings where they guided me through their work process and asked questions pertaining to the research topic. This student is now conducting similar numerical research in a PhD program. 

Currently, as a Postdoctoral Fellow, I continue to take on mentorship roles. In my lab, I support my advisor in mentoring both Master’s in Oceanography, and Ph.D. students. I meet weekly with one student, helping with research questions and discussing how to approach challenges. More, I guide students through the writing and review process, including editing their manuscripts, and assisting with reviewer comments.