Ninava Sharma

Biography

My fascination for the natural world started at a very young age – I was obsessed with gardening and bugs and recycling. This fueled my passion for math and science throughout my childhood. After graduating from UCLA in Spring 2024 with a degree in bioengineering, and passing the FE Mechanical Engineering exam, I dove into the professional engineering world. Throughout my academic journey, I’ve been driven by both a genuine love for these subjects and also how they connect to solving our world’s environmental challenges. There’s something incredibly exciting about understanding the mathematical principles behind renewable energy systems or the chemistry of sustainable materials.

Despite loving my engineering work, I found myself really missing the academic environment and the unique joy that comes from helping students discover these subjects. That’s what drew me back to tutoring at AJ. Over my five years of tutoring experience, spanning high school and college, I’ve discovered that my favorite moments are when students realize these subjects aren’t just arbitrary, abstract requirements, but powerful tools for understanding and improving our world. I have always found that having tangible meaning to subjects inspires me to work harder at them. My teaching philosophy centers on making learning genuinely fun while pushing the students to achieve their personal best. I believe the best way to achieve lasting improvement and success is helping students fall in love with the subject itself, while building good study habits and tangible approaches to problems and learning new skills. I often use analogies to make complex concepts feel familiar. Why memorize formulas when we can understand that chemical equilibrium works like a crowded dance floor, or that circuits behave like water flowing through pipes? The more you understand the less you have to memorize. I also balance big-picture thinking with first-principles approaches, helping students see both the forest and understand how each tree grows. When students leave our sessions feeling both accomplished and eager to tackle the next problem, I know we’ve found that perfect balance between challenge and enjoyment.

Currently, I also work as a mechanical engineer at Flux Dynamics, a local startup designing high-efficiency axial flux induction motors. It’s rewarding work that keeps me connected to cutting-edge engineering applications. When I’m not designing motors, you’ll find me working on my ‘74 Super Beetle, experimenting with new recipes in my kitchen, or spending quality time with my cat, Rotli.