Alex Waagen

Biography

I was raised in the bay area and spent most of my life here, though I also spent some time living in Japan, Florida, and Virginia while I was in the Marines, which I joined shortly after graduating High School. I graduated from UC Davis in 2015 with a PhD in applied math, and spent several years teaching and tutoring Calculus as a TA while getting my degree. After that, I got a job as a research scientist specializing in network theory. I spent nearly a decade working as a research scientist in Malibu before I decided to go back to teaching.

I was a poor student in high school, and I can remember how difficult the higher level mathematics seemed. I didn’t really gain a passion for mathematics until I started studying it independently, and it was clear to me that the issue was really not with mathematics, but how it had been presented to me. I think that everyone is capable of learning not just how to do mathematics to pass tests, but to understand and appreciate it fundamentally.

While working on my degree at UC Davis, I spent several years working as a TA which involved teaching supplementary classes and tutoring at the university level. I’ve always enjoyed teaching both in a 1 on 1 and in a class setting and it’s great to help students reach a new level of understanding, especially in subjects like Calculus that might seem a little inscrutable.  I like to center teaching around the specific needs of individual students, since learning is a dynamic process and everyone learns differently and has different goals.

In my off time, I enjoy reading, going on long walks, and playing mahjong.