wolfgang richter

> ls courses

  • 15-821: Mobile and Pervasive Computing
    Semester: F12
    Professors: Mahadev Satyanarayanan and Dan Siewiorek
    Role: Project Creator and Mentor
    Project Title: Virtualized Transplantable Networking
    Project Description: This project entails freezing an executing set of virtual machines (VMs), migrating them using a mobile device as the carrier to new hardware, resuming execution, and minimizing network downtime. Your goal is to resume IP-layer traffic within tens to hundreds of milliseconds...
  • 15-441: Computer Networks
    Semester: F11
    Professors: Srini Seshan and Roger Dannenberg
    Role: TA
    Recitations: available on GitHub
    Fun: Visualization of student work during the semester

> cat teaching_statement

A great teacher is indistinguishable from a great leader: people like Mahatma Gandhi—Father of the Indian nation and teacher of philosophy, Richard Feynman—a vocal public figure and legendary teacher of physics, and Bruce Lee—an iconic actor and teacher of martial arts. This comes as no surprise, because teaching is not something that a teacher does, it is something that his students allow him to do. Both teachers and leaders serve those who trust them. To be a great teacher, or a great leader, you must first earn respect. The first step, for me, is to never create problems, assignments, or projects that I can not complete. To do so would be dishonest to my students. How can they trust and respect me if they know I can not complete the work? However, the standard to which I evaluate my students remains unwaveringly high. I believe that my students can accomplish their work with excellence and convey this to them throughout my tenure as their teacher. To further earn respect and trust, I teach by example—I lead by example. I create demonstrations for students, and code examples to aid their understanding in response to queries, or my own anticipation of their confusion. I believe that dedicated teachers inspire students—the same way that dedicated leaders inspire their followers—which pushes them to succeed. If students see that I am willing to meet with them at odd times, and respond to their queries as soon as possible, they rise to the task at hand and become more dedicated themselves. It is with this background that I derive the four pillars upon which my teaching philosophy rests: (1) ensure I am capable of completing work I assign, (2) maintain the highest standards for my students and by extension myself, (3) teach by example, and (4) dedicate myself to teaching inside and outside the classroom.