Sagar Patwardhan

I am passionate about mathematics and education, and have been tutoring for a long time. I tutored throughout my middle school and high school years, mostly in math, and in college I tutored students in multivariable calculus and differential equations. During my senior year in high school, I started an after-school Math Olympiads math club at my old elementary school. As the main instructor, every week I taught math concepts to a group of around six kids in grades 3-5. This was an extremely enjoyable experience for me, and I was even able to continue tutoring one of the students privately. These experiences motivated me to pursue more teaching and mentoring opportunities.

During the transition from high school to college, I had an accelerating interest in the brain and psychology, and so ended up moving out from under the pink-and-orange skies of Arizona where I grew up and settling in “gray sky-forward” Cleveland, OH, at Case Western Reserve University. There, I pursued a degree in systems biology with a concentration in neuroscience, combining my interests in mathematics, neuroscience, and psychology towards one holistic purpose. At Case I also participated in scientific research, and after graduation I passionately sought out more research opportunities in mathematical neuroscience. This took me both to Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where I earned my master’s in neurobiology, and then University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston where I pursued a PhD in neuroscience. During this time, I was very much a scientist-in-training and was occupied by hypothesizing, experimentation, data analysis, interpretation, modeling, and thinking everyday about how nervous systems achieve incredible feats. The topics I studied include 1) does turning certain genes on or off change the strength of specific neural connections? 2) do rats move their whiskers in specific ways to help them perceive the shape of an object? and 3) how can we analyze brain signals to predict how an animal will move before it moves?

During my research, I found great pleasure in communicating the “art” of “doing” mathematics. I really enjoyed working with people and helping them to find success in their projects as a teammate and as a mentor. And so, I returned to math tutoring with a new purpose: not only did I want to train to be a better mathematics communicator, but I also wanted to specifically impact and mentor students to reach their goals.

As a mathematics and test prep tutor, my general tutoring objectives are teaching 1) content and 2) test-taking strategies. I try to make concepts accessible, and I consider tutoring sessions to be about discovering something new. I am very patient, enthusiastic, and committed to my students. With standardized test prep, I find that practice is the key to students’ success. In our sessions, we will review key concepts and techniques, play with them, and then practice so students develop consistency.

My overall tutoring goal is to make our time together profound. Similarly, my highest hope as a tutor is that no matter where a student begins their journey that they will always walk away having discovered something new about a particular concept or technique.

In addition to tutoring, some of my hobbies are listening to rap and electronic music, hiking, and learning to dance like Les Twins.