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Course Staff

25sp ver.

Note: this is for the Spring 2025 iteration of CSE 121. Looking for a different quarter? Please visit https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse121/.

Instructors

Miya Natsuhara, a half-Asian woman, smiles directly at us, with long dark brown hair, leaning against a wood-paneled wall, wearing a black and white sweater with geometric pattern.

Office Hours

M 11:30-12:30 PM
F 1:00-2:30 PM
CSE 460 & Zoom

Miya Natsuhara she/her/hers

mnats@cs

Hi all, I’m Miya! I’ve lived in various parts of the Seattle area for all of my life (Renton, Bellevue, Downtown Seattle) and now live in West Seattle.
I graduated with a BA in Mathematics along with a BS and MS in Computer Science from the Allen School here at UW. I had no knowledge of programming or Computer Science when I started at UW, and only very reluctantly took the first Introduction to Programming class when pressured by my family to give it a try. When I enjoyed the class more than I expected, I went on to take the next class in the sequence and then became a TA for these classes the following quarter. I continued to TA for these classes throughout my undergrad and grad school. After I graduated I spent about 2 years as a Software Engineer at Microsoft on the Visual C++ Libraries Team before returning my focus to teaching to spend more time with you all!
Outside of teaching, I spend lots of time with my objectively-adorable fluffy tricolor corgi Gumball and enjoy experimenting with new baking challenges and cozy knitting projects. Looking forward to a fantastic quarter with you all - please feel free to stop by and chat!

Teaching Assistants

Image of Sushma Shankar, a South Asian female with long black hair

Sushma Shankar she/her/hers

sshan854@uw

Hi, I’m Sushma! I’m a junior studying Human Centered Design and Engineering and I am so excited to be your TA this quarter! I’m also an Engineering Peer Educator and teach an E-FIG so I’m happy to help with any ENGRUD-related questions too. Outside of school, I love cooking, pilates, Indian music, and binging TV shows (I’m currently obsessed with Severance). Looking forward to seeing you in section!

Getting Help

Having questions or getting stuck on something is entirely expected in the learning process. If you find something challenging with your studies, that is a sign you are learning! Learning is not something that you need to do alone though! In fact, connecting with your peers or asking a member of the course staff for help can add extreme depth to your knowledge.

Outside of lecture and quiz section, there are three resources in this class specifically designed to answer your questions:

  1. TA office hours (the “IPL”) (synchronous, in-person only)
  2. Instructor office hours (synchronous, in-person and remote)
  3. Ed Discussion board (asynchronous)

Note: a common misconception is that you can only go to office hours with specific homework questions. That is not true! If you have any questions about course concepts (e.g. from class that day), you are super encouraged to go work on that concept with a member of the course staff at office hours! Getting help with a concept earlier, when you first are feeling unsure, is much better than saving it until you need it on the homework.