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Summer 2024 enrollment is now open! Explore Available Courses

Our campus will be CLOSED for Spring Break from Saturday, 3/30 to Friday, 4/5 . Classes will resume on Saturday, 4/6.

Our Team


Our Founders

Richard Rusczyk

Art of Problem Solving was founded by Richard Rusczyk in 2003 to create interactive educational opportunities for avid math students. Richard is the author or a co-author of 7 AoPS textbooks and a past Director of the USA Mathematical Talent Search. He was a participant in National MATHCOUNTS, a three-time participant in the Math Olympiad Summer Program, and a USA Mathematical Olympiad winner (1989). He received the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions Paul Erdös Award in 2014. He graduated from Princeton University in 1993, and worked as a bond trader for D.E. Shaw & Company for four years. AoPS marks Richard's return to his vocation - educating motivated students.

Glen Dawson

In 2014, Glen founded a learning center in Morrisville, North Carolina, that two years later became the first AoPS Academy campus. Glen served as the National Director of AoPS Academy until his retirement in 2019. He has experience as a college math professor, statistician, and expert SAS programmer. He has been a professional math tutor for many years, and specializes in training academically-advanced and high-performing math students. Glen is a graduate of Duke University and holds a graduate degree in statistics from Boston University.

David Patrick

Dave joined AoPS in 2004. He is the author or a co-author of 4 AoPS textbooks. Dave earned the sole perfect score on the American High School Mathematics Examination (AHSME) in 1988 and was a USA Mathematical Olympiad winner that year. He attended the Research Science Institute (RSI) in 1987, and the Math Olympiad Summer Program in 1988, where he first met fellow student Richard Rusczyk. He also finished in the top 10 on the Putnam exam in 1991. Dave graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 1992 with a BS in Mathematics/Computer Science and an MS in Mathematics. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT in 1997. He was an acting Assistant Professor at the University of Washington from 1997 to 2001. Dave is originally from Western New York and is an alumnus of the SUNY Buffalo Gifted Math Program.


Directors

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Katrina Ayres

Katrina Ayres Campus Director

Katrina is the Campus Director for AoPS Academy Fremont. Prior to becoming Fremont’s Campus Director, Katrina was an Associate Director at the Santa Clara campus, which she helped launch in 2019. She holds a master’s degree in education, and teaching credentials in three states. She loves nothing more than teaching and learning. Before joining AoPS, Katrina published four books about classroom management for teachers. When she isn't working, Katrina loves traveling, bicycling, playing with her cat, and prowling the local library for new books.

Sonia Chumber

Sonia Chumber Senior Associate Director

Sonia is a Senior Associate Director for AoPS Academy Fremont. Sonia has been a lecturer of English Composition and Literature at many colleges. In addition, she has been a private tutor, academic advisor, and consultant for start-ups. She has obtained a MA and BA in English Literature as well as a degree in Behavioral Sciences. Her master’s thesis "The Voices of the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishad in T.S Eliot's The Waste Land” is published in The International Journal of Language and Literature. Sonia's primary teaching objective is to ensure that students enjoy the content by making real-life connections with it. Outside of AoPS, Sonia enjoys traveling, binge-watching the latest fantasy series and most of all, spending quality time with her family.

Rubie Dhillon

Rubie Dhillon Associate Director

Rubie is an Associate Director at AoPS Academy Fremont. With a passion for STEM education and a BS in Applied Mathematics from UCLA, she is committed to making math accessible, engaging, and enjoyable for students of all levels. During her time at UCLA, Rubie held the role of Head Learning Assistant for high-level math courses, fostering a growth mindset in students to ultimately encourage them to overcome math-related challenges. Through K-12 tutoring and academic competition coaching at various levels, Rubie has developed a strong enthusiasm for teaching and creating a supportive academic environment for students to thrive in. When she's not crunching (real or imaginary) numbers, she enjoys playing sudoku, watching live music, and cooking!

Kristen Kaliski

Kristen Kaliski Associate Director

Kristen is an Associate Director at AoPS Academy Fremont. She has a passion for teaching and loves to learn. She earned her bachelor’s degree from New Hampshire College in business communication and then embarked on a long career as a freelance STEM editor for academic publishers. Freelance work allowed her to volunteer extensively in her sons’ activities, which led to a career as a teacher. She has taught all levels of math and language arts, middle school history, and elementary science and cannot choose a favorite subject because she likes them all. She is an experienced math circle instructor and recently started a middle school STEM club as a community service. She believes in empowering students and building their self-confidence. When she’s not teaching, she enjoys spending time with her sons and friends, cooking and baking, walking her dog, reading, and volunteering.

Eric Millington

Eric Millington Associate Director

Eric is an Associate Director at AoPS Academy Fremont. Math, education, and leadership have been passions of his since he was young. His enthusiasm for numbers flowed into him pursuing a degree in math at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. There, he was constantly part of study groups and meetings with TAs, and noticed how being in small group and 1-on-1 environments accelerated his learning. After working as a teaching assistant for an engineering class, he started to pursue more opportunities to be involved in education and shifted his focus to math education. When he's not teaching, he will often be playing board games or games on his computer. He also loves cooking and many outdoor activities such as Frisbee golf, hiking, and enjoying the great weather here in the Bay Area!


Office Staff

Johnè Clayton

Johnè Clayton Administrative Coordinator

Johnè has earned her bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from UC Riverside. She has worked on many school campuses where she held an administrative position. In addition, she has experience with working with children, including the role as a summer camp counselor at Camp EdMo where she helped aid students in a math and engineering classroom setting. Johnè enjoys working with children, cooking and traveling to new places.

Brittany Bautista

Brittany Bautista Front Desk Associate

Brittany has earned a bachelor’s degree in communication with a concentration in media production and multimedia journalism at CSU East Bay in Hayward. She made the Dean’s List during her academic career there. After learning and exploring different storytelling mediums, she hopes to produce one of her own. She would also like to have the opportunity to travel around the world. While envisioning her future, Brittany enjoys listening to music, reading, doing puzzles, and watching movies and TV series from her curated list each year.

Adriana Jimenez

Adriana Jimenez Front Desk Associate

Adriana is a current college student at San Jose State University, where she is majoring in business administration with a concentration in marketing and a minor in computer science. Adriana is a first generation college student who has made the Dean's List since her first semester. She hopes to one day have the opportunity to travel all around the world, but until then she spends all her time studying, enjoying time with her 3 dogs, and being a gym rat.

Macon Nowzari

Macon Nowzari Front Desk Associate

Macon is a student at Ohlone College, and is majoring in Electrical Engineering. He plans on transferring to San Jose State in Fall of 2024. In his spare time, Macon is constantly trying to learn about his interests and expand his range of knowledge. He also loves to play video games, although during his school year he doesn't get much time to do so anyway. His favorite games to play are the Forza Horizon games. Macon spends a lot of time listening to music as well, and collects vinyl records of his favorite artists from all sorts of genres.

Vy Tran

Vy Tran Front Desk Associate

Vy is currently a design student at San Jose State University. She aspires to apply her knowledge of design in the field of UI/UX design after graduating in Spring 2024. Along with her interest in UI/UX, she also enjoys working out, dancing, and watching cooking shows.


Instructors

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Dr. Catharine Alvarez

Dr. Catharine Alvarez

Mathematics is an enduring passion for Catharine, who was a math major as an undergraduate and minored in physics. She continued her math studies, earning a Ph.D. in applied mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. Catharine loves sharing the joys of mathematics with students and is a highly experienced professional tutor. She has also worked as a math coach and instructor for various online course providers and has experience with classroom teaching as a volunteer math lab coordinator at Warwick Elementary School and as a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. When she is not scribbling solutions to math problems on her phone notepad, Catharine enjoys riding her bicycle on the Bay Trail and taking photos of her pet plecostomus, Hoover.

Nataly Alvarez

Nataly Alvarez

Nataly has enjoyed math ever since she learned how to add. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics with an option to teach, and just finished her Master of Science in mathematics at California State University East Bay. While earning her master’s degree at CSUEB, she worked as a graduate teaching associate and was the instructor of record for several courses including pre-calculus and college algebra. Additionally, she facilitated activity sections to support other math courses at CSUEB. At CSUEB, she was also a contributing author to the college algebra guided notes. Some of her greatest passions in life include math/problem solving and helping others. As a kid she tutored her younger cousins and friends in math, and she has volunteered as a tutor for the Youth Enrichment Program. She is currently adjunct math faculty at Holy Names University where she teaches math and statistics. When she is not busy following her teaching passion she enjoys brushing up on her math and computer coding skills, doing sudoku or any other type of puzzle with her son, doing yoga and spending time outdoors with her family and friends.

Debaditya Bhattacharjee

Debaditya Bhattacharjee

Debaditya Bhattacharjee has a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from RIT and a master of science degree in electrical engineering from USC. He has over twenty years of experience teaching and tutoring, dating back to his high school days. Over the course of his career in education, he has helped numerous students improve their grades and test scores, and solved countless challenging problems in mathematics, physics, and chemistry that were confounding students. He looks forward to helping students at Art of Problem Solving.

Dnyati Chaudhari

Dnyati Chaudhari

Dnyati has a bachelor's in electronic and telecommunications engineering from a renowned university in India. From her high school to engineering days, she has helped many young students grasp and understand tedious mathematical concepts. Over the last few years, while helping her children understand and finish their homework, her interest in math grew many folds. She understood the importance of collaborative environments with a systematic approach for children to learn and grow to their fullest potential. Now, as a passionate and resourceful math teacher, she can’t wait to be part of your student's adventurous journey into the math world. Aside from her ardent love of teaching, she enjoys cooking, traveling to many places, and spending time with family.

Richard Chiang

Richard Chiang

Richard has a Master of Science degree in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania. He also worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley for more than 20 years. As a father of two, he started teaching math to his own children and later became a math tutor for students ranging from elementary school to high school age in the Tri-Valley area. Richard believes the process of learning math should be less intimidating. When Richard is not teaching, he enjoys gardening, blogging, and watching tennis games.

Kirk Diaz

Kirk Diaz

Kirk discovered the wonder of language in junior high, when he read Call of the Wild in his 8th grade English class. Since then, he has traveled to Mexico to learn his family's language of Spanish, and he lived in South Korea for over a decade studying Korean and teaching young learners to be better speakers, readers, and writers of English. Before returning to the US and becoming an instructor at AoPS, Kirk taught Language Arts to elementary students for 7 years at an afterschool academy in Seoul. When Kirk is not teaching, he enjoys weightlifting, hiking, running, and riding his bike, always trying to live up to the motto of the Olympic Games: faster, higher, stronger.

Mariam Ebrat

Mariam Ebrat

Mariam loves books, so writing is a passion and an ever-evolving art form for her. Her undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies gave her the advantage of surveying social science paradigms and writing perspectives; a graduate degree in communication studies covered many areas of communication with the theme of listening empathically as a critical aspect of communication in many contexts. Mariam thoroughly enjoys academic writing and research in rhetoric and interdisciplinary studies. She has taught introduction to public speaking part-time at Ohlone College, CSU East Bay and Deanza College. As an undergrad, Mariam also served as a writing tutor at San Francisco State University helping students with organizing and editing academic papers for humanities courses. As a graduate student instructor, she had the opportunity to teach two sections of a college life skills course at California State University East Bay before teaching public speaking to help incoming freshmen get acclimated to college level requirements and resources for academic success and emotional growth. Mariam aims to always understand a student's perspective before she teaches them anything.

Anthony R. Gailliard Jr.

Anthony R. Gailliard Jr.

Anthony has been involved as a teacher of English and English skills since the Fall of 2008. He has a background in reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Enhancing all of these skills is a recursive strategy he takes immense pride in. He is optimistic that his approach will benefit many students, as he is open, communicative, energetic, and optimistically positive about learning. He is a huge proponent of enjoying yourself while learning, so entertaining students while teaching them the desired objective has been a successful approach of his for over 16 years. He looks forward to potentially impacting students with language arts enhancement, as AoPS is a supportive learning environment that certainly challenges students to bolster skills supplementally to their standard day-to-day school curriculum.

Maya Garnes

Maya Garnes

Maya Garnes's love and passion for the written word, as well as her desire and dedication to serve others, has placed her on the career path of being an English teacher. Upon graduating high school, Maya took an interest in American Sign Language (ASL), furthering her skills and knowledge at Ohlone College. Her acquired ASL skills led her to volunteer at California School for the Deaf, Fremont in their Early Childhood Education Department. As a result of her skills, she is now fluent in the language. Pursuing a love for writing, Maya transferred to California State University, East Bay, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing. As your child’s teacher, Maya's goal is to help them improve their writing by providing skills and tools which will lead them to finding their own answers, and exploring the subjects that interest them most. When not teaching at AoPS Academy, she enjoys spending quality time with her family as well as writing and sharing poems of her own creation. Maya is a dictionary and thesaurus enthusiast, and loves learning and sharing new words. As a writer and teacher, she believes everyone has a unique story to tell, and telling that story starts by following your curiosity.

Jing Ge

Jing Ge

Jing deeply believes in the power of language. When she was young, she extensively read different genres of literature and wrote essays as part of her daily routine. She also has an engineering soul. In her college, she studied computer science and obtained a master's degree at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. She then worked as a software engineer for six years. Over the years, she realizes that no matter how things have changed externally, she can always find inner peace and solace in literature and writing. She has continued to read and write and attend creative writing workshops. She loves discussing writing pieces and literature with others, which is what brought her to AoPS as a language arts instructor. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring wild nature, exercising, and spending time with her loved ones.

Keonna Geer

Keonna Geer

Keonna is a seasoned educator with 10 years of experience in K-12 and adult education. She was born and raised in Atlanta, GA area and has lived in many states. Keonna's master's degree is in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Trauma and Crisis. She has an Ed.S. in Educational Leadership. Throughout her career, she has served as a Principal, School Counselor, and Teacher. Keonna is passionate about how students learn and is committed to ensuring that all students reach at high levels. She loves teaching and learning and is eager to see students master material through complex problem-solving and project-based experiences. In her free time, Keonna enjoys reading her V.C. Andrews collections, making recipes from new/old cookbooks, trying new nail designs, and exploring the town.

Amy George

Amy George

Amy grew up in India and is a resident of the Bay Area. She graduated from the MFA program in Creative Writing at Saint Mary’s College of California, where she was the Kearny Street Workshop Fellow and Fiction Editor for MARY: A Journal of New Writing. She was awarded a Fellowship by the San Francisco Writers Grotto and has attended workshops with Tin House and the Community of Writers. Her work has been featured in the Oyster River Pages, Aster(ix) Journal, Jellyfish Review and Flash Frog. She is currently at work on a novella. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys spending time with her husband, and their children, ages 12 and 10. Amy is excited to bring her passion for creative writing to the classroom!

Sierra Gordon

Sierra Gordon

Sierra Gordon is enthused about teaching Language Arts with AoPS Academy; she recently joined in the summer of 2022 with over 10 years experience working with children and 5 years teaching experience. She graduated with her degree in psychology with an emphasis on child development. She is passionate about teaching elementary ages so much so that she is currently teaching a group of fourth graders whom she also taught 3rd grade humanities to last year! Her life passion has become fostering young minds above their capabilities and helping those under grade level reach above grade level. As exciting hobbies, she enjoys building famous Lego structures as well as cooking and writing. However, some of the most cherished time spent is with her two children, Alexa and Eli and their 2 year old cat, Zara.

Sreedhar Gudala

Sreedhar Gudala

Sreedhar's love of math began during his schooling. He continued enjoying math during his higher education, and even now. He enjoys teaching Math/Olympiad topics to his daughter. Sreedhar's passion towards helping younger kids led him to AoPS. He believes that having a good foundation at an early stage will help kids to understand topics like math and see the world differently. Sreedhar has a strong technical background in engineering, holding bachelor's and master's degrees in electronics from JNTU Hyderabad, India. He is currently working as an Engineering Manager at NVIDIA in Santa Clara. Outside of work, he enjoys hiking, photography and playing chess. Sreedhar has also had the opportunity to play with world chess champion Viswanathan Anand in a company-level tournament. When time, permits he also spends time volunteering with multiple organizations.

Hiromi Kane

Hiromi Kane

Hiromi Kane is teaching Algebra this year at AoPS. She previously worked for an investment bank, and earned her MBA from the University of Michigan before leaving her career in finance to focus on raising her children. She has been teaching 4th grade math through Algebra 2, and AoPS books have been the textbooks used in her classes. With many of her students earning high placement awards in Math competitions such as MathCounts, MathOlympiad, CML, and AMC 8-10, she is looking forward to training AoPS mathletes!

Krista Kelley

Krista Kelley

As an avid reader and writer, Krista has always loved studying the way authors can paint feelings with words. One of the reasons she became a teacher is that she finds joy and satisfaction in sharing her love for turning pages and celebrating language with others. Nothing makes her teacher heart smile more than to see a student make a genuine connection to what they are reading. She has been an educator for over 17 years and has worked across the country with many different types of learners and ages. Currently, she teaches 6th grade CORE English and History at Walters Middle School in Fremont. She is also the 6th grade CORE department lead at her site. She hosts and advises two clubs at her school, including a weekly debate club. She loves to read, garden and spend time with her family. Her absolute favorite thing to do is read a good book at the beach and play in the waves.

Oleg Korovyanko

Oleg Korovyanko

Oleg entered the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology at the age of 16, and has worked as a scientist in three settings: in a national research lab (ANL), as a university teacher (UC and Texas A&M), and as an industrial researcher (scientific and medical lasers). Oleg teaches high school and college math, physics, statistics and programming (SAS, SQL). He also tutors teams for math competitions (HMMT, BMT, AMC8,10,12, AIME) as well as physics competitions (f=ma). Oleg teaches in person and online math Olympiad classes at least 3 times a week, and will teach you how to stand out in math and science competitions. Outside of teaching for AoPS, Oleg follows the following rules: lead but do not drag, strengthen and do not discourage, open the way for learners.

Bhavana Kota

Bhavana Kota

Bhavana always had math as her favorite subject during her school years. She enjoys solving challenging math problems and considers this to be a stress buster. Sudoku is her favorite puzzle game. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Engineering and Technology from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, India. She has been teaching math to kids in K-12 for the past many years both in-person and online. Other than work, she enjoys playing outdoor games with her two boys, going on walks, and cooking delicious food.

Traptilisa Kumar

Traptilisa Kumar

Traptilisa’s greatest passion in life is teaching math and science. Her interest in teaching stems not just from her commitment to quality education, but also her desire to enrich the lives of students. She has been tutoring and teaching middle school to college-level students for 14 years in various settings – tutoring small and large groups, individual private tutoring, and teaching in classroom settings. She is currently adjunct physics faculty at Foothill College, Los Altos. Her background includes a BS in mathematics, a master’s degree in physics from India and an MS in Physics from San Jose State University. Outside the classroom, she likes to solve math puzzles and enjoys hiking and spending time with her son.

Annie Liao

Annie Liao

Annie grew up in Oakland and earned her bachelor's degree in math and nutritional science from UC Berkeley. During her time there, she served as a tutor and undergraduate student instructor to support college students in enhancing their math skills. She recently obtained her Math Teaching Credential and aspires to assist more children in improving their mathematical abilities. Math has always been her superpower, empowering her to pursue further education. Her goal is to help other children discover their interest in math and let it become their superpower, supporting them in their educational journey.

Felicia Lim

Felicia Lim

Felicia first discovered her passion for teaching mathematics as a high schooler when volunteering as a math tutor at her charter school. She continued to tutor math, chemistry, and biology at Ohlone College while earning her associate’s degree in mathematics. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and a minor in bioengineering. There, she worked as an Undergraduate Student Instructor for a calculus course and was a recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award. Teaching students from different math backgrounds has helped her learn many ways to teach similar concepts. In addition to math, Felicia has taught swimming and martial arts for many years. She loves to see her students gain confidence and enjoy learning. Outside of math, Felicia enjoys running, hiking, and backpacking.

Kunal Mahajan

Kunal Mahajan

Kunal has enjoyed Math ever since elementary school in India and won several math competitions from grades 5-10. He earned his Bachelor’s of Technology in computer science from IIT Delhi and has an MBA in Analytical Finance & Economics from the University of Chicago. In over 20 years of professional experience as a technology consultant, software engineer, structured credit trader and, most recently, as a business leader at tech startups, Kunal has extensively applied mathematical concepts such as time-value, induction, statistics, probability, and Monte Carlo simulations.Kunal enjoys engaging with children in and outside the classroom. He has led and taught a middle-school summer camp in Palo Alto focusing on math and cryptography and is also a substitute teacher in the Pleasanton school district. Beyond the classroom, Kunal enjoys spending time with his 2 sons and has coached his son’s team in their baseball, soccer and cricket leagues.

Deepa Murthy

Deepa Murthy

Deepa is an engineer by degree, and a teacher by choice, driven by her passion for instilling a love for math and science into her students. She has taught in public schools for the last 8 years from kindergarten to middle school. She has also volunteered extensively and engaged in private tutoring. Deepa brightens up the classroom atmosphere by teaching engaging lessons and making the class very interactive. She strives to ensure that the classroom remains enjoyable and stimulating for every student. She is very excited about this wonderful opportunity to apply her knowledge and experience to make a positive impact on her students. Outside of teaching, Deepa enjoys listening to music, playing board games and cooking.

Jennifer Palacios

Jennifer Palacios

Jennifer believes when students make meaningful connections in their learning process, they will thrive in knowledge and understanding. Currently working on a doctorate degree in educational psychology, Jennifer has also acquired a master's degree in curriculum and instruction from Shasta Bible College & Graduate School and a BS in counseling psychology from Jessup University. Jennifer loves it when her students develop and successfully apply their language arts skills in communication, text, problem-solving skills, or in practically every aspect of their everyday lives. When not in the classroom or writing doctoral papers, Jennifer reads cookbooks, is an avid runner, traveler, and will cook for a party of two or a hundred. While a vegetarian, her husband recently gifted her with a Traeger grill because he believes carnivores need to enjoy her cooking skills as well.

John Pelias

John Pelias

John loves mathematics so much that he has been doing it as a profession his whole life! He has a master's degree and is currently finishing his doctorate degree in mathematics at UC Santa Cruz (where he also teaches). He studies geometry and topology, particularly geometric concepts and techniques that are inspired by physics. He loves studying and teaching "hard but awesome" mathematics, like topology! (By the way, topology is the branch of mathematics where a coffee mug and a donut are considered the same shape!) He also loves understanding and teaching the motivations and history of concepts, because doing so helps us remember them. When John isn't doing mathematics, he likes to play table tennis, play board or word games, talk about philosophy with his friends, sit by the beach while reading a novel, play the piano, pet random dogs at the park, watch anime, or cook.

Antonio Sanchez

Antonio Sanchez

Tony is a word nerd who punctuates with personality! He believes in guiding fun and positive experiences through language arts to educate, empower, and engage people of all ages. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in English at Stanislaus State University, Tony started his own writing agency to help people find their voice and tell their stories. His time as a published cognitive neuroscience copywriter, a memoirist, and a fiction writer inspired him to become a teacher, as well. Tony encourages empathy and insight on the page and in the classroom. He helps learners clarify complex topics with a warm, collaborative style that combines creativity and critical thinking in a safe space. After school, Tony enjoys playing games with friends and family, solving mysteries, swimming, streaming supernatural shows and anime, and going on adventures.

Madeline Soria

Madeline Soria

As an educator, Madeline enjoys sharing in the journey her students take to wonder, explore, and discover all things math! She wants to help students build their academic and life skills through the problem-solving learned in her classes. Madeline's philosophy, which centers around making learning meaningful and encouraging problem-solving based on reason versus guesses, naturally drew her to AoPS. With a B.S. in computer science, an M.A. in teaching (mathematics 5-9), and 10 years of experience, she has the background to help her students look at a problem from different perspectives, formulate and execute a strategy, and then experience success and build their self-confidence — all in an encouraging, didactic, and engaging environment where they want to contribute and be heard. Outside of class, you can find Madeline playing Dungeons and Dragons, learning about the arctic, or trying out Alton Brown's Good Eats recipes.

Joy Suh

Joy Suh

Joy’s fascination with patterns, puzzles, and logic inspired her to earn a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Wheaton College, and a master's degree in applied mathematics from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. In her career as an actuary, she became an ACAS (Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society) through the rigorous actuarial examination process. The mother of three children, Joy has also volunteered extensively in her local schools. For the past dozen years, she taught music to elementary students, and directed choirs and musicals. She is thrilled to now join AoPS to share her lifelong passion for math. Joy is addicted to learning, and is an avid baker, photographer, performing arts lover, newbie ukulele player, and an ARMY fan of BTS.

Jaya Swaminathan

Jaya Swaminathan

Jaya loves problem solving. Whether it’s puzzles, a tricky math problem or a strategy game, she is always up for the challenge! She holds a Bachelor’s in engineering from BITS Pilani, India and worked as a software engineer. After moving to the Bay Area, Jaya has been helping her children prepare for math competitions. She believes in building strong foundations to equip her students to become creative problem solvers and lifelong learners. Outside of math, Jaya enjoys cooking, spending time with her daughters, and getting creative with DIY projects!

Leander Ten Hoff

Leander Ten Hoff

Leander first fell in love with math when he was four years old. His penchant for abstract, logical thinking made math an obvious choice all throughout his academic career. He earned an associate's degree in mathematics at Foothill College, and a bachelor's degree in pure mathematics from UC Berkeley. He has tutored statistics and calculus and worked at the San Jose Math Circle, pitting talented students (and himself) against the toughest problems that pre-college math has to offer. In his spare time, he enjoys creating and solving logic puzzles and puzzle games

Bill Zhao

Bill Zhao

Bill Zhao is a young enthusiastic math tutor. He has a bachelor’s degree in material physics and two master’s degrees in engineering and computational mechanics from Rice University and Boston University. His research includes simulating and making predictions on materials by applying math models and machine learning methods. He also has experience in teaching college students math and physics. He likes to use simple and easy ways when teaching math. He wants his students to actively think about different aspects when they encounter a concept. Also, he believes it is important to learn how to put knowledge in a certain logical order and prepare for coming challenges in higher grades. He hopes his teaching will help students at Art of Problem Solving. Other than work, he likes video games, movies, and traveling.

Our family regularly talks about AoPS. We try to think about how our life would be different without you all. What if my daughter hadn't learned to love math? What if she never experienced being pushed to her limits? Overcoming failure? She wouldn't be who she is. And she is AWESOME! A very proud mom here. We are so fortunate that we found AoPS Academy. I credit AoPS for much of her confidence.

Kelly B.,

AoPS Academy parent to 16-year-old engineering major at UW and future cancer researcher