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Spotlight on Graduate Teaching - Panelist Bios

Nuria Ballesteros Soria, Modern Languages (DC)

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Second Language Acquisition in the Department of Modern Languages (ML) and a Senior Graduate Teaching Fellow at the Eberly Center. At CMU I have also taught ML courses, served as a Language/Culture Fellow at the Student Academic Success Center, and worked as a Teaching Fellow in Dietrich College (DC). In 2020, I received the DC Graduate Student Teaching Award for my commitment to pedagogical innovation and research. In Spring 2022, I will be defending my dissertation and contributing to program assessment efforts for the new DC General Education curriculum as a Graduate Assessment Fellow.

Richard Branscomb, English (DC)

I have had extensive teaching and mentoring experience throughout my graduate career, and I have extended this experience to curricular development and program administration. At CMU, I have taught different versions of first-year writing and, most recently, professional writing, in which I have prioritized developing equitable pedagogical practices and outcomes. I am currently a Graduate Assessment Fellow in Dietrich College, where I assist with developing a learning-focused assessment program for the general education curriculum. I am also a Senior Graduate Teaching Fellow at the Eberly Center, and a participant in the Future Faculty Program.

Victoria Dean, Robotics (SCS)

Victoria Dean (she/her) is a PhD student in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. In Spring 2021, she taught Ethics and Robotics (16-735), a seminar for graduate and undergraduate students, with Illah Nourbakhsh. She wrote a paper on the course ("Teaching Ethics by Teaching Ethics Pedagogy"), to appear as an Experience Report at SIGCSE 2022. Advised by Abhinav Gupta, her research focuses on exploration in reinforcement learning. Outside of teaching and research, she enjoys exploring the real world, baking, and reading. She is a 2020 recipient of the NSF GRFP and a participant in the Future Faculty Program.

Bailey Flanigan, Computer Science (SCS)

Bailey is a PhD student in CMU's Computer Science Department. Over the past year, she has led a team of graduate students and staff in developing a 6-week course on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The course aims to empower CS PhD students to participate inclusively in day-to-day interactions, to be advocates for themselves and allies to others, and to continue learning about diversity, equity, and inclusion going forward. It has now been adopted as part of the computer science department’s PhD curriculum. Bailey taught a pilot of the course in Spring 2020, is currently TA-ing the course this Fall, and will co-teach the course this upcoming Spring. She is now working with several members of the CMU community on making the course a sustainable and equitable component of the curriculum.

Becca Rapp, Physics (MCS)

Becca Rapp is a 5th-year graduate student in the Physics department. She was a teaching assistant for Physics I for Science Students (Fall 2017 - Spring 2019) and Physics II for Engineering and Physics Students (Fall 2020); both are large introductory courses with TA-led recitation sections to facilitate group problem solving and TA-led Course Centers for more individualized help. Becca also helped to organize the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics that CMU hosted in January 2020. Her work both in and out of the classroom earned her the 2021 MCS Hugh Young Graduate Student Teaching Award.