“It’s likely the most challenging endeavor I’ve ever undertaken at MIT,” remarks Haley Nakamura, a second-year MEng student in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). She isn’t referencing a course, final assessment, or research project. Nakamura is discussing her role as a teaching assistant (TA). “It truly is an art, as there’s no definitive guide to being an effective educator. It requires skill, and it’s something you must constantly refine and adjust according to different individuals.”
Nakamura, similar to roughly 16 percent of her EECS MEng colleagues, juggles her own studies alongside her teaching duties. The TA position is intricate, nuanced, and at MIT, it can entail significantly more planning and logistics than one might anticipate. Nakamura is involved in a foundational computer science (CS) course, 6.3900 (Introduction to Machine Learning), which enrolls about 400-500 students each semester. To accommodate this number, the course necessitates eight instructors at the lecturer/professor level; 15 TAs from both undergraduate and graduate levels; and roughly 50 lab assistants (LAs). Students are divided into eight sections, each corresponding to a senior instructor, with a group of TAs and LAs assigned to each section of 60-70 students.
To ensure that everyone progresses at a similar pace, coordination and organization are essential. “A significant reason I obtained my initial TA position was due to my organizational skills,” Nakamura clarifies. “Everyone here at MIT tends to be so busy that it’s challenging to keep everything in order, and students are quick to point out any logistical issues or inconsistencies. If they’re concerned about some anomaly on the website or questioning how their grades are computed, those issues can hinder their focus on the material.”
Nakamura’s aptitude for organization made her an ideal candidate to identify and manage potential issues before they disrupted a course section. “When I joined the course, we desired someone on the TA side to take on more specific administrative responsibilities, so I became the first head TA for the course. Since then, we’ve expanded that role significantly. We now have a head TA, a lead undergraduate TA, and section leaders creating internal documentation, such as guidelines for enhancing content and managing office hours.” The result of this administrative effort is uniformity across sections and semesters.
The other facet of a TA position is, of course, teaching. “I was enthusiastic about interacting with students in a significant manner,” says Soroush Araei, a sixth-year graduate student who had already completed the teaching requirement for his electrical engineering degree but eagerly accepted the opportunity to teach alongside his PhD advisor. “I take pleasure in teaching, and I’ve consistently found that clarifying concepts to others enriches my own understanding.” He recently received the MIT School of Engineering’s 2025 Graduate Student Teaching and Mentoring Award, which recognizes “a graduate student in the School of Engineering who has exhibited remarkable teaching and mentoring as a teaching or research assistant.” Araei’s commitment comes at the expense of sleep. “Balancing my research with my TA responsibilities was no small task. I often spent long hours in the lab, assisting students in troubleshooting their circuits. Even if their design simulations appeared flawless, the circuits they implemented on protoboards didn’t always function as anticipated. I had to delve into the problems alongside the students, which frequently required significant time and effort.”
The benefits of Araei’s endeavors are often intrinsic. “Teaching has revealed to me that there are always deeper layers to comprehension. There are concepts that I thought I had mastered, but I discovered gaps in my own knowledge while trying to elucidate them,” he notes. Another obstacle: the diverse levels of background knowledge among students in a single class. “Some had never encountered transistors, while others had tape-out experience. Crafting problem sets and selecting questions for office hours demanded meticulous planning to keep all students actively involved.” For Araei, some of the most gratifying moments have occurred during office hours. “Observing the ‘aha’ moment on a student’s face when a complex concept finally clicked was exceptionally rewarding.”
The pursuit of the “aha” moment is a common thread among TAs. “I still grapple with the sensation of being accountable for someone’s understanding of a topic, and if I’m not performing effectively, that could influence that individual for the rest of their lives,” states Nakamura. “However, the contrast to that moment of confusion is when someone experiences the ‘aha!’ moment during our discussion; when I manage to clarify something that wasn’t communicated effectively in other materials. It was my assistance that facilitated that understanding. And that reward far outweighs the anxiety of causing confusion.”
Hope Dargan ’21, MEng ’23, a second-year PhD student in EECS, leverages her position as a graduate instructor to connect with students who may not conform to the typical image of a scientist. She began her journey at MIT intending to major in CS and become a software engineer, but a missionary trip to Sweden in 2016-17 (during the resettlement of refugees from the Syrian civil war) ignited a broader interest in both the Middle East and in how communities narrate their own stories. Upon returning to MIT, she pursued a history degree, penning her thesis on the experiences of queer Mormon women. Additionally, she taught for MEET (the Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow), an educational initiative serving Israeli and Palestinian high school students. “I realized I had a passion for teaching, and this experience set me on a path toward a teaching career.”
Dargan acquired her teaching license as an undergraduate through the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program (STEP), then entered the MEng program, where she developed an educational intervention for students struggling in class 6.101 (Fundamentals of Programming). The next step was pursuing a PhD. “Teaching is highly context-sensitive,” notes Dargan, who was awarded the Goodwin Medal for her teaching contributions in 2023. “When I taught students for MEET, it contrasted significantly with instructing eighth graders at Josiah Quincy Upper School for my teaching license, and it is quite different now teaching students in 6.101 compared to instructing the LGO [Leaders for Global Operations] students Python during the summers. Each student possesses their own distinct perspective on what drives them, how they learn, and what resonates with them … So even if I’ve taught the material for five years (as I have for 6.101, having been an LA, then a TA, and now an instructor), enhancing my teaching remains a challenge. Improving my ability to tailor my teaching to match the context of the students and their ever-evolving narratives is consistently intriguing.”
While Dargan views teaching as one of her foremost passions, she acknowledges the sacrifices that come with the profession. “I believe the aspects that ignite our passions reveal a great deal about us, including both our strengths and weaknesses, and teaching has illuminated many of my weaknesses,” she states. “Teaching is a demanding career, as it often attracts individuals who care deeply and are perfectionists, which can lead to significant burnout.”
Dargan’s students have also conveyed their appreciation for her efforts. “Hope is unequivocally the most supportive instructor I’ve ever encountered,” commented one anonymous reviewer. Another noted, “I never felt judged when I approached her with questions, and she excelled at guiding me through problems by posing insightful questions … I genuinely felt she cared about me as both a student and as a person.” Dargan herself remains humble about her contributions, stating, “For me, the compromise between teaching and research is that teaching has an immediate, day-to-day impact, whereas research holds this uncertain potential for long-term influence.”
With the duty of educating an ever-increasing percentage of the Institute’s students, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science relies substantially on committed and passionate students like Nakamura, Araei, and Dargan. As their compassionate and humanistic influence spreads through thousands of emerging electrical engineers and computer scientists, the immediate effects of their work are evident; yet the long-term impact may be more significant than any of them realize.