Hi, I’m Shrikant Kshirsagar
.
I identify as a
philomath,
who is passionate about
making Math accessible to everyone.
This passion of teaching Math goes back to my high school days, when I started
tutoring students from lower grade levels in Math as part of helping my Mom run
her at-home tutoring services.
From that early age, when I discovered the joy in helping students understand
difficult Math concepts, I have been always on the lookout for opportunities to
deploy my Math teaching skills.
Formerly, I worked as a data scientist and computational software
engineer in tech companies ranging from a start-up to a big corporation.
I hold a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in
Computational and Data Science and Engineering from the University of
California, Berkeley, where I also earned an M.A. in Mathematics and an M.S. in
Mechanical Engineering.
During my studies at UC Berkeley, I was a Graduate Student
Instructor for various courses, ranging from Introduction to Programming to
Advanced Numerical Methods for Differential Equations at the undergraduate and
graduate levels in both the Mechanical Engineering as well as Mathematics
departments.
Over the course of more than 10 semesters of teaching students at Berkeley from
diverse backgrounds and levels, and helping them deeply understand fundamental
concepts in Mathematics and Engineering, I have refined my teaching skills to be
able to work effectively with students at any level.
I completed my B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering at the Indian
Institute of Technology, Bombay, where in my first year, I volunteered to create
Instructors’ Resource Manuals for Math teachers, who taught students from
low-income communities around the campus as well as teach blue-collar workers
in and around the campus on how to use computers effectively.
Professionally, I have significant experience with Amazon Web Services
(AWS), where I served as a Research Scientist in two different fields:
Machine Learning and Quantum Computing.
As a technical consultant at AWS offering professional consulting services, I
got the opportunity to hone my skills in breaking down complex technical topics
in an easy-to-understand format while educating AWS’ customers, i.e., business
of varying sizes — from small-scale to enterprise businesses in diverse
sectors including finance, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, etc. — on the basics
and applications of machine learning & quantum computing, and enabling them to
become quantum-ready for deploying this transformative technology in their
businesses.
I also played a key role in mentoring and collaborating with cross-functional
teams to solve complex business challenges, including developing learning
material for understanding the basics of quantum computing for internal teams at
AWS.
Before my tenure at AWS, I worked as a Machine Learning Research Scientist at
Amazon Lab 126.
As one of the first hires to work on applying Machine Learning inside my org, I
led the efforts in educating my colleagues in my org on the best practices for
applying Machine Learning by conducting weekly Machine Learning demo-and-learn
sessions.
I also served an instructor at the company-wide Machine Learning bootcamps for
all Amazonians in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Recently, I had the opportunity to serve as a mentor in the Harvard extensions
graduate-level course “Introduction to Entrepreneurship”, where I worked with a
team of talented students to apply the concepts taught in class to real-world
entrepreneurship problems.
Aside from tutoring, I enjoy being active outdoors with my fur baby (the
sweetest Golden retriever!), listening to/reading all kinds of books, and
mindfully engaging in activities to enhance all 8 dimensions of my overall
wellness, e.g., yoga, meditation, etc.
Summary of teaching experience
- Graduate student instructor at UC Berkeley:
- Advanced numerical methods for differential equations
- Introduction to computer programming
- Finite element methods
- Continuum mechanics
- …
- Mentor at Harvard extension:
- Introduction to entrepreneurship course project
- Machine Learning at Amazon:
- ML bootcamps for all Amazonians
- Weekly ML learning sessions for PI org
- National Services Scheme at IIT Bombay:
- Instructors’ Resource Manual for Math teachers of underprivileged students
around campus
- At-home Math tutor
- Tutoring kids from Grades 1 through 12 in Math