Instructor¶
Nathan Brunelle he/him/his
Hi, I’m Nathan! I grew up in Virginia Beach, VA, then moved to Charlottesville, VA for college. I earned my B.A. in Math and Computer Science, my M.C.S. in Computer Science, and my Ph.D. in Computer science all from the University of Virginia (UVA). I remained at UVA as teaching faculty for 6 years before joining UW in autumn 2023. This is my third year teaching in the Allen School. When I’m not teaching I enjoy baking, crocheting, biking, gardening, and being a dad to my newborn son Robin! Please ask me about my cross-country road trip with my spouse (Sarah) and dog (Bucky), how we baked ~1000 cookies in one day in our home kitchen, the relationship between math and crochet, my summer in a fisheries lab, or anything else that’s on your mind!
Teaching Assistants¶
Adiyan Islam he/him
Hey! I’m Adiyan, a third-year CS student here at UW. Outside of school, I’m usually watching soccer, trying new food, traveling whenever I get the chance, or hanging out with friends and family. I also love teaching and meeting new people, so definitely come say hi even if you don’t have a CSE 123 question! I’m super excited to get to know everyone this quarter :)
Ananya Soni she/her/hers
Hey everyone 👋🏽! I’m Ananya Soni, a fourth-year Computer Science and Maths student at the University of Washington, and I’m super excited to TA CSE 123! Outside of CS, I love drawing, crocheting 🧶, solving puzzles, and reading. I’m also a huge dog person and live in the greater Seattle area with my family and our golden retriever, Cheeku 🦮. I’m looking forward to meeting you all! Please feel free to come chat with me about CSE 123, CS, internships, hobbies, or anything else!
Chloe Bogen she/her
Hi!!! I’m Chloe, and I’m in my last year at UW in CS. I love to chat, listen to music, watch shows, take really long walks, be in the sun, drink matcha, drag myself to yoga, and romanticize life! PLEASE feel free to reach out at any point. Let’s have a fabulous fall quarter <3
Chris Ma he/him
Hi. This is quarter number seven. In my free time I enjoy rock climbing, hiking, hanging out with my dog Milo, and consuming content of all forms. You can find me at either SBP or in Gates. Say hi, don’t be a stranger, and come chat about whatever. Excited to meet y’all!
Cora Supasatit she/her
Cora is a fourth-year CS major hailing from Renton, WA and this will be her eighth (!!!) quarter as a TA. When let out of her charging pod in the IPL, she spends her free time horsing around, strumming the guitar, and pondering the physical security (or lack thereof) of various campus buildings. She is chatty by nature and greatly encourages any questions or conversation! Please.
Crystal Shen she/her
Hi everyone! I’m Crystal Shen, and I’m a senior in Informatics (this is my last quarter!!!). Aside from being a TA, I am an escape room enthusiast, a culinary connoisseur, and a TV show specialist (not really - just in love with Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Young Sheldon). I’m looking forward to meeting all of you!
Evan Wu he/him
Hi everyone, I’m Evan! I’m a fourth-year BS/MS student in the Paul G. Allen school, and I’ve been a CSE 123 TA for a really long time. This is my first quarter of my Master’s program, and I’m excited to help teach again! We will ball or bawl this quarter :D
Isaac Wu he/him
Hi y’all! I’m Isaac, a 4th-year Computer Engineering student and this is my first quarter TA’ing for 123 and I’m excited to meet you all. In my free time I’m also working at Husky Robotics (we make mars rovers), applying to jobs (🥲), playing board games, and trying to speedrun Celeste. Looking forward to this quarter!
Jonah Kowal he/him
“Hey, I’m Jonah! :D n This is my fifth quarter TAing 123 and I’m super excited to be back. I’m a third-year Computer Science major minoring in Urban Design and Planning. Outside of school, I’ve been playing a lot of Star Wars Outlaws recently. I’m nearly done with the game, so if you have a recommendation for what to play next, hit me up!”
Megan Pereira she/her
Hi everyone! I’m Megan, a third year majoring in Computer Science and Economics. In my free time, I enjoy cafe hopping, climbing, and watching mystery tv shows (if you have any recs please let me know :D). I am super excited to meet you all!
Mimi Wang she/her
Hi I’m Mimi!! I’m a third year studying CS and this is my very first quarter TAing 12X! In my free time I love cooking (anything from pasta to elaborate asian dishes), I love just chatting with friends, listening to music, playing the guitar, discovering new restaurants (ask me for recs in Seattle), and watching basketball!!! So excited for an amazing quarter with you all!
Nancy Kim she/her
Hi everyone! My name is Nancy and I’m a second-year majoring in computer science and minoring in business administration. This is my first quarter TAing and I’m super excited to get to know you all! In my free time I love going to concerts, playing tennis, and going on hikes!
Nate Dauz he/him
Hi I’m Nate and I play table tennis. I’m also a fourth year student studying computer science. I help run the Husky Table Tennis Club by making Instagram reels- feel free to come by and we can have a match! For fun I like karaoke, dancing, and listening to performative music. I’m looking forward to working with everyone!
Nhan Truong he/him/his
Wassup y’all! This is my fifth quarter as a TA for CSE 123! My academic hobbies include trying to make rocks think, solve, and reason super-duper complicated tasks and my outside hobbies include hitting small-lightweight aerodynamic trajectories (birdies) around with my homies, look up at little bright dots in the night sky, and just walking around. Excited to meet you all!!!
Rachel Liu she/her
Hello! :] I’m Rachel, a junior studying cs and biochem. I like art, movies, and occasionally watching soccer. Recently I finished watching Daredevil (yet to watch Born Again), and it was really good.
Ryuta Uchida
Hi! My name is Ryuta and I am a second year studying physics. Aside from games like brawl stars and pokemon champions, I like to go rock climbing and play badminton with friends in my free time. This is my first quarter as a TA and I’m excited to meet all of you!
Saachi Dhamija she/her
Hey, I’m Saachi! I’m a senior in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and this is my fourth quarter as a TA (second in 123!). I really enjoy photography, going to concerts, eating oysters (🦪), and walking all over Seattle (shoutout to the Lake Union Loop). I’m currently obsessed with Jazz House music (open to recs) and looove Christopher Nolan movies. Excited to meet all of you soon!! :)
Sahana Sarangi
Hi, I’m Sahana! I’m a junior studying CS and biology, and this is my fourth quarter TAing 123. In my free time I love dancing, skiing, and trying new restaurants. Looking forward to meeting you!
Sashmit Aarya he/him
Hey y’all! I’m Sashmit and I’m a second-year Computer Engineering major minoring in Aeronautics & Astronautics and Math. This is my first quarter as a TA and I am beyond excited to work with y’all over the next several weeks! Outside of class, you can find me volunteering at local FIRST robotics competitions, singing in my choir, or riding public transit (commuter student here!). Here’s to a great autumn quarter!
Shiven Friedeman he/him
Hey all! My name is Shiven. I’m now a Junior :/ But I still love Brawl Stars, making coffee, biking, and running—maybe doing a triathlon?? I’m from Camas, just outside of Portland. Super excited to meet you all this quarter and for the year to come!
Shree Balamurugan she/her
Hey everyone! I’m Shree and I’m a third-year majoring in Computer Engineering with a Business Administration minor. I love biking, road trips, hiking, snowboarding and trying new restaurants. Looking forward to meeting all of you.
Vihan Bagal
Hey everyone!! I’m Vihan, a second year majoring in CS. In my free time, I love to play table tennis, cook some fire meals, and cook the CPU’s in smash bros. I’m excited to meet everyone this quarter!
Yuntong Pan He/Him/His
Hi! I’m Yuntong, a third year studying CS. I was born in China, and I’ve lived in Beijing, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. In my free time, I like playing the saxophone and piano, writing songs, and painting. I’d love to chat about music, movies, shows, and maybe a bit of CS too. Can’t wait to meet you all!
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.
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Synchronous Help (Office Hours): One place to go to get help is our Office Hours hosted throughout the week. TAs staff office hours for many hours a day to provide you the help you need when you need it! This is a great place to go if you want to review a particular course concept, work on a practice problem with the help of a TA or your peers, or get help on a Creative Project or Programming Assignment if you are running into difficulties.
Tip
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.
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Asynchronous Help (Ed Discussion): With a class of our size, directly emailing a member of the course staff is not always recommended. There are many of you and only few of us, so if you email one person directly we can’t make a guarantee how quickly we can respond! To alleviate this one-on-one communication of email, we have a course discussion board that will be a much more lively place for discussion and a way to make sure you can are helped more quickly. The message board is set up so that all of the course staff can help you, which will make it more likely for you to receive a quicker response!
Ed Tips
- If you are asking a general question about the course logistics or content, you can make a public post. This way other students can benefit from seeing your question, and you can even answer each other’s questions to share your perspectives!
- If you want, you can choose to post anonymously so that other students in the course can’t see your name. Note that anonymous posting does not hide your identity from the course staff.
- You’re encouraged to answer each other’s questions as well! Explaining a topic to someone else (even on a discussion board) is a great way to help you better understand the material. The course staff will still look over student answers and can nicely point out some misconception if there is one so that everyone benefits.
- If you have a question that’s pretty specific to your homework solution, or, is about some personal details that you would not want to share with the class (e.g., DRS accommodations), you can make a private post on Ed that is only visible to the course staff. This way, any member of the staff can respond to get you the help you need!
- For sensitive matters that you only want to discuss with Nathan, you can instead email Nathan if that makes you feel more comfortable or schedule a 1-on-1 meeting with them. Note that the response time for the instructors’ email is longer than posting on the Ed board.