Getting Help

If you have a general question that other students could potentially benefit from, considering posting on Ed or Discord. On Ed, you can also set your questions to private or anonymous as you see appropriate.

For logistical questions (such as extenuating circumstances and DRS accomodations), we ask that you post privately on Ed so the whole staff can respond. For sensitive situations, you can also email Hunter directly if you would feel more comfortable. We are often available at other times by appointment, and we encourage you to schedule 1:1 appointments whenever you want to talk about concepts, grades, internships, or anything else.

To see when our office hours are and for instructions on how to join them, see Office Hours.

Instructor

Photo of Hunter Schafer

Hunter Schafer

he/him

hschafer@cs

Schedule 1:1 Meeting

Hi there! 🙋‍♂️ My name is Hunter! I’ve lived in Seattle for almost my whole life after a brief stint in Alaska, where I was born, and a couple of years in Minnesota. I did my undergrad and masters here at UW in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering.

Funnily enough, I had absolutely no idea what computer science was when I started at UW. I took CSE 142 on a whim and enjoyed it enough to continue on to CSE 143, but not enough to commit to it as a field of study. It wasn’t until I became a teaching assistant for the 14x series did I really find my passion for computer science: teaching computer science. Since then, I’ve shaped my college and post-college career around teaching computer science. Since graduating with my masters, I’ve worked here at the Allen School as a Teaching Professor.

Outside of school and work, I (used to) spend most of my time hanging out with friends: just enjoying quality time or going out and exploring new restaurants and coffee shops. Now, during the inside-times, I’ve tried to make a routine with some of my available free time: I’ve gotten into reading and cooking more regularly, I started practicing yoga, and I even tried my hand at streaming on Twitch (all while drinking questionably unhealthy amounts of coffee).

Teaching Assistants

Photo of Andrey Risukhin

Andrey Risukhin

he/him

risuka@uw

Hello! 🙂 My name is Andrey! I live about an hour away from Seattle, and I’ll be applying for several data science-related majors next quarter. I loved CSE 416 when I took it Summer 2020, and I’m excited to help show you how cool machine learning is!

I enjoy creating with Lego and cooking with the Instant Pot, and I’m exploring tech entrepreneurship at the UW. Portal 2 is one of my favorite puzzle games 🎮, and I’m playtesting a mod for it called Portal Reloaded. It adds a time portal, which allows for really mind-bending puzzles. It’s set to release on April 19 (the 10-year anniversary of Portal 2), and it’s super fun.

A few days ago a Lego set I designed reached 10,000 supporters on Lego Ideas, a website where fan designers can create official Lego sets. I developed my Lego Portal Modular Testing Chamber over almost eight years, I’m hoping it’s approved in the September review session!

I’m happy to talk about my hobbies, please feel welcome to reach out! :D


Photo of Gang Cheng

Gang Cheng

gangc@uw

Hi everyone! I am currently a 4th year Ph.D student in statistics. My research is mostly about missing data. Out of research, I like playing pokers, watching videos and hiking occasionally. This is my second time TAing 416 and I am looking forward to it.


Photo of Leona Kazi

Leona Kazi

she/her

lkazi@uw

Hi everyone! My name is Leona! I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, but have lived in Washington all my life. I never thought I would be interested in CSE until I took my first computer science course at UW (CSE 142) and ended up really enjoying the problem solving aspect within programming. This has led me to chase opportunities that allow me gain more exposure to this field, and that’s why I am super excited to be TA’ing for this quarter for CSE 416! Before this class I have TA’ed for CSE 373 three times and CSE 414 once!

Please come to my Office Hours to ask for any type of help or even to ask general questions! I am open to talking about anything from my interests and hobbies to my experience at UW and within this field!


Photo of Rahul Biswas

Rahul Biswas

he/him

rbiswas1@uw

Hello everyone! My name is Rahul. I’m in the fifth year of PhD in Statistics. My research belongs in the interface of causal learning and neuroscience. During stay-at-home, outside of research and teaching, I enjoyed calls with friends, meditating, cooking, and online volunteering. This is my second time being TA for 416 and looking forward to it.


Photo of Santino Iannone

Santino Iannone

he/him

iannos@uw

👋! I am a senior studying computational biology here at the UW. I’ve TA’d for CSE 373 twice (both times post-COVID) and this is my first time TAing 416. I know personally how difficult staying engaged with online classes can be, so please let me know if there’s anything I can do to improve your distance learning experience! Outside of academics, I try my hand at writing screenplays. I also enjoy a good hike. I look forward to meeting everyone and celebrating what will (hopefully) be the last online quarter! At least for a good while.


Photo of Svet Kolev

Svet Kolev

he/him

swetko@uw

Hi everyone! My name is Svet! I am from Bulgaria and have lived in Seattle for 9 years. I am currently finishing my PhD in Computer Science in Robotics, and have an undergraduate EECS degree from Berkeley. I have been interested in math/CS pretty much my whole life and started programming around the age of 12 and did competitive programming in high school and college.

I have TAed this course few times before as well as AI and Vision.

Please come to my Office Hours to ask for any type of help, general CS or EE questions, or even to ask general questions! I am open to talking about anything from my interests and hobbies to my experience at UW and within this field!