Engineering with Dan P.

I graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering from Purdue University and moved to Houston, TX to work at NASA Johnson Space Center in 1996. I spent about 7 years as an engineer writing software for the Space Shuttle Mission Simulators used to train astronauts and 8 years working in mission control during Space Shuttle launches. After some self-reflection, I realized that I really wanted to be a teacher - I had some experience teaching at NASA outreach events, coaching youth sports (football, track, volleyball), and teaching kids in church, so I decided to leave NASA and go back to school at Rice University for my PhD degree in Bioengineering. After graduating from Rice in 2016, I have been an Assistant Professor of Instruction at The University of Texas in Austin in the Biomedical Engineering department. I enjoy being a teacher and coach because I love helping and watching young people grow in knowledge, abilities and confidence. I also enjoy keeping up with the science of teaching and learning and one of my main goals as a teacher is to help my students become lifelong learners who can efficiently learn new things on their own.