Mathematician Andrei Jorza will begin his new position as associate professor of the practice in August, teaching classes for the Science and Engineering Scholars program.
The program provides talented students with support in smaller sections of courses for chemistry, calculus, and physics. Students are mentored by faculty members and have the support of other students who are also in the program. In this, its third year, the program has expanded from 45 to a cohort of 80 students.
Jorza will teach calculus for the life sciences to a group of 40 of those students. Instead of three classes per week, the course will meet for four, and the group size is such that Jorza feels he will get to know his students on a deeper level than the last time he taught calculus several years ago.
“What will be refreshing and exciting from a pedagogical point of view will be that I can interact with the class more closely than during a regular sequence,” Jorza said. “I will get to be with the students for the whole year, and there will be a greater feeling of camaraderie.
“Regularly, students don’t come to see the instructors too often, but in this program, there will be a lot more one-on-one time with each.” Jorza noted that students in the program often become close and take courses together, making them more willing to meet frequently with their instructors than students in other calculus courses. Because of Covid-19, office hours will likely to be over Zoom or, of course, socially distanced.
He said he is also looking forward to teaching the course with Arthur Lim, a professor of the practice in the Department of Mathematics.
Jorza’s research interests include number theory, representation theory and algebraic geometry.
Jorza has been an assistant professor the Department of Mathematics since 2013. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and then his doctoral degree from Princeton University in 2010. He has held visiting positions at the University of Lille in Lille, France, as well as Sorbonne University, in Paris, France.