Graduating seniors in each undergraduate degree program within UC Santa Barbara’s College of Engineering select one outstanding teaching assistant (TA) every spring to recognize for his or her outstanding service and dedication to student success. The recipients of the Outstanding Teaching Assistant awards for the Class of 2025 are Anna Pischer (chemical engineering), Hunter Larson (computer engineering), Ajaykrishnan E S (computer science), Max Crisafulli (electrical engineering), and Max Emerick (mechanical engineering). Read more about the award-winning TAs below.
 
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Mechanical engineering PhD student Max Emerick has worked as a teaching assistant for a variety of undergraduate courses over the years, ranging from vibrations and robotics, to dynamical systems and nonlinear phenomena. He tries to transmit to his students, what he calls, “the keys to the kingdom of science” in each course: curiosity, creative problem solving, self-directed learning, agency over the subject matter, and a view of science as a model and a tool for understanding and manipulating the world around us.
 
“I try to connect the material that students are learning to real-world problems, lead them to discover ideas for themselves, and encourage them ask questions and answer those questions themselves,” explained Emerick, who received a prestigious National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship last fall. “For students who are used to learning in this more traditional style of memorizing, I think this different approach can be somewhat of a revelation and can fundamentally change the way that they relate to science, research, and education.”
 
Students apparently appreciated his approach, selecting Emerick as the Outstanding TA of Mechanical Engineering.
 
“It’s quite an honor. I put a lot of work into being a TA, and I’m glad to know that I’m having a positive impact,” said Emerick, who plans to pursue a faculty position after completing his PhD.

Advised by mechanical engineering professor Bassam Bamieh. Emerick develops mathematical techniques to understand and manipulate density-based systems. Analyzing and manipulating these types of systems is challenging, because they have a near infinite number of ways that they can move. He develops methods that leverage patterns in these systems to make them more tractable to work with.