Teaching

Derek Wise

I am currently a Visiting Research Assistant Professor at UC Davis.

Before coming to UCD, I was a graduate student at UC Riverside, where I was a Teaching Assistant for 4 years, as well as the primary instructor for a few courses. Earlier still, I was an undergrad physics and astronomy lab instructor at Abilene Christian University.

This page is a record of my teaching activities, extending back to about 1994.

Courses Taught

Courses at UC Davis:

Partial Differential Equations I (UCD MAT-118a)
Partial Differential Equations II (UCD MAT-118b)
Differential Geometry (UCD MAT-116)
Gauge Theory and Gravity (UCD MAT-280)

Courses at UC Riverside:

In Fall 2007, I taught Partial Differential Equations at UC Davis. In Spring 2007, I taught the Complex Analysis Qualifier Prep Seminar at UCR.

In Summer 2006, I taught the Topology Qualifier Prep Seminar at UCR. This is a seminar for 1st and 2nd year graduate students preparing to take the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam in Topology. We discussed material from the three courses in the Topology Sequence at UCR, including general topology, homotopy theory, and differential topology. I emphasized unifying themes in these courses, using a perspective rooted in category theory.

In Summer 2005, I taught Ordinary Differential Equations (Math 46) at UCR. If you want to see what my students thought of the class, you can look at my teaching evaluations and the accompanying student comments.

In Summer 2004, I taught Calculus of Several Variables (Math 10A) at UCR. You can still view the course webpage here.

In 2000, when I spent a brief time working in industry, I designed and taught a 40-hour training course in Nuclear Physics and Gamma Nondestructive Assay. Unfortunately, the course materials, including the textbook I wrote for the course, are "proprietary." (One disadvantage of working for industry -- you don't have legal rights to anything you create.)

Courses Assisted

When I was a student, I held a variety of positions as a Teaching Assistant or Lab Instructor. I also served as a Mentor Teaching Assistant for two academic years at UCR. Subjects I taught included:

General Physics
Astronomy
Optics
College Algebra
Calculus
Multivariable Calculus
Linear Algebra
Abstract Algebra
Differential Equations
History of Mathematics
Geometry
Differential Geometry
Topology

Below is a more detailed list of my TA and Lab Instructor assignments, in reverse chronological order.

Spring 2007

Ordinary Differential Equations (UCR Math 46)
Primary Instructor: John Baez

Winter 2007

Ordinary Differential Equations (UCR Math 46)

Business Calculus (UCR Math 11)

Fall 2006

Geometry (Euclidean and non-Euclidean homogeneous geometries) (UCR Math 133)
Primary Instructor: Reinhard Schultz

College Mathematics for Science Majors (UCR Math 8A)
Primary Instructor: Richard Ries

Spring 2006

Multivariable Calculus II (UCR Math 10B)
Primary Instructor: Bruce Chalmers

Differential Geometry II (Riemannian Geometry) (UCR Math 138B)
Primary Instructor: Zuang-Dan Guan

Topology II (intro to homotopy theory) (UCR Math 145B)
Primary Instructor: Peter Milley

Winter 2006

Polynomials and Number Systems (Math 140)
Primary Instructor: David Rush

Differential Geometry (Math 138A)
Primary Instructor: Reinhard Schultz

Fall 2005

Applied Linear Algebra (Math 113)
Primary Instructor: Jacob Greenstein

Geometry (Math 133)
Primary Instructor: Xiao-Song Lin

Spring 2005

Ordinary Differential Equations (UCR Math 46)
Primary Instructor: John Baez

Applied Linear Algebra (UCR Math 113)
Primary Instructor: Danny Stevenson

Winter 2005

First Year Calculus (UCR Math 9A)
Primary Instructor: John Baez

Ordinary Differential Equations (UCR Math 46)
Primary Instructor: Feng Xu

Fall 2004

Geometry (UCR Math 133)
Primary Instructor: Xiao-Song Lin

Ordinary Differential Equations (UCR Math 46)
Primary Instructor: Feng Xu

Spring 2004

History of Mathematics (UCR Math 153)
Primary Instructor: David Rush

Topology (UCR Math 145B)
Primary Instructor: Sam Nelson

Multivariable (Differential) Calculus (UCR Math 10A)
Primary Instructor: Richard Cleyton

Winter 2004

Multivariable (Differential) Calculus (UCR Math 10A)
Primary Instructor: Sam Nelson

Calculus (UCR Math 9B)
Primary Instructor: Nick Nirschl

Fall 2003

Multivariable (Integral) Calculus (UCR Math 10B)
Primary Instructor: Sam Nelson

Calculus (UCR Math 9B)
Primary Instructor: Adriano A. de Moura

Earlier TA Positions at Abilene Christian University

Unfortunately, I don't have records of the exact chronology of the teaching assistant positions I held as an undergrad at ACU. The courses I taught (some of them more than once) were:
© 2003-2009 Derek Wise       Last update: 1 September 2009 w3c validation