Tianyi Zheng

Courses supported: Current: CS-0441; CS-0445 Prior: CS-0007

Major: Computer Science and Statistics

Minor: Mathematics and Linguistics

Academic Level: Sophomore

Achievements and Accolades: Dean's List Fall 2020 - Present; First place in Mobile Records at the Pitt Challenge hackathon

Activities and Clubs: Computer Science Club, SCI Academic Council

Post graduation plans: Graduate school

Why did you become a UTA? I became a UTA to help my peers while getting to work with my favorite professors.

What is the best advice you would give to a student who may need additional support? Do whatever it takes to help you break down the problem. People massively underestimate the value of writing pseudocode or drawing a diagram.

What is the best study tip you have for a student taking the course you UTA for? For CS 0445, you should strive to truly understand the data structures and algorithms on both a conceptual and programming level. Not only will they reappear in future coursework, but they're also crucial to know for coding tests in job interviews.

Why should students come to your UTA office hours? Most students tend to simply accept their grades without going back and seeing why they lost points. Asking questions in office hours can therefore help you actually learn from your mistakes, which is invaluable when midterms or finals come around. 

What is your favorite thing about the subject you UTA for? I love that problem-solving is at the forefront of the subjects that I teach. Whether they be programming assignments or mathematical proofs, the assignments for the subjects that I teach really challenge students to develop logic and critical thinking skills that are crucial for solving problems in computer science.