Category: 3005_GTA

Austin Xu is a first year Ph.D. student in ECE with a focus in digital signal processing and machine learning. He obtained a BSE in Electrical Engineering at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), and spent the previous 21 years of his life living in a suburb of Detroit. In his (very limited) time outside of school, one can find Austin watching basketball, doing yoga, and cooking. His teaching style is being mindful of the fact that everyone brings a unique engineering perspective to the table, and providing objective and transparent feedback. Through his internships at Sandia National Labs and General Motors, Austin has witnessed the difference good technical communication can make in a collaborative engineering setting.

Tony Wang is a 1st year ECE PhD student studying microbotics for biomedical applications. In the future, he aspires to help advance microbots towards becoming fully autonomous at detecting and destroying cancer cells before they metastasize in the human body. He obtained his B.S. in materials science and engineering with a minor in electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley. As someone who has spent nearly all his life in the Bay Area, he enjoys visiting San Francisco from time to time with his friends for hiking, exploring (picture is at Nara Park, Japan!), and eating. In his free time, he plays Super Smash Bros Ultimate (not competitively), Ping Pong, and board games with friends, watches movies, and shops for groceries to get those sweet discounts. As a GTA, Tony wants his students to develop and hone their interpersonal skills so that they can work effectively as a team. Consequently, he believes that engineers should have “engine ears” because listening is the key to strong communication.

Josh Bishop is a MS ECE student studying signal processing and machine learning. He obtained his BSEE from Georgia Tech and previously worked at GTRI and Waveguide LLC. Josh is a strong writer and presenter, capable of communicating with technical and non-technical audiences, with or without fluff. Nevertheless, he enjoys fluffy things and all things fluff adjacent, including (but not limited to) crochet yarn, cappuccino foam, a well groomed soccer field, and falling asleep in a warm bed with sheets fresh from the drier. Technical communication is the orthogonal complement of fluff and involves none of these things.

Hiba Murali is a 2nd year Master’s student in ECE, specializing in VLSI and semiconductors, who was born and raised in a small town in Mississippi. She survived getting an undergrad degree in Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech and decided to stick around for more. In her (very little) free time, Hiba tends to voraciously consume fantasy and science fiction novels. On weekends, she will often be baking or trying to recreate dishes she’s had at restaurants, with varying success. After graduating (again), she’ll be heading to Texas to begin working as a Product Manager at Silicon Labs, a role that involves tasks on both sides of the engineering vs. business divide. As someone who regularly has to explain complicated concepts to people with little background knowledge in the area, Hiba firmly believes that effective communication is critical for engineers wishing to be successful in their careers. Her teaching style, although somewhat Socratic, is patient and adaptable to individual needs. She believes in empowering students to think critically about the challenges they face and strives to be approachable and empathetic, both in and out of the classroom.