Graduating seniors in each undergraduate degree program within UC Santa Barbara’s College of Engineering select one outstanding teaching assistant (TA) every spring to recognize for his or her outstanding service and dedication to student success. The recipients of the Outstanding Teaching Assistant awards for the Class of 2025 are Anna Pischer (chemical engineering), Hunter Larson (computer engineering), Ajaykrishnan E S (computer science), Max Crisafulli (electrical engineering), and Max Emerick (mechanical engineering). Read more about the award-winning TAs below.
 
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
 A fourth-year PhD student, Anna Pischer served as the teaching assistant this year for the senior design and capstone project courses. Prior to starting her PhD, she worked at the Phillips 66 San Francisco refinery as a process and operations engineer, where she gained an appreciation for process design, chemical processing, and process simulation. For her efforts, graduating seniors selected Pischer as the department’s 2024-’25 Outstanding Teaching Assistant.
 
“Receiving this award is such an honor and delight,” said Pischer, who earned her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from UC Davis. “I love working with students. I feel like we learn together, and it warms my heart to know that I had a meaningful impact on them, as they certainly did with me.”
 
Pischer says that whenever she TAs a course, she wants students to know that she is rooting for their success.
 
“I truly want each student to learn the material and feel like they are succeeding in the course. I try my best to be available to meet, respond to questions quickly, and be someone who promotes an inclusive learning environment,” she said.
 
Advised by chemical engineering professor Brad Chmelka, Pischer studies heterogeneous catalyst synthesis, advanced materials characterization, and reaction performance for energy production. She plans to work in industry after completing her PhD.
 
COMPUTER ENGINEERING
While working to complete two degrees in five years as part of the BS/MS program offered by the Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Department, Hunter Larson has held a handful of internships. He worked part time as an electrical design engineer at Teledyne FLIR this year and pursued a master’s degree in computer architecture with a minor in graphics and image processing. As a TA for this year’s computer engineering capstone classes, Larson focused on preparing his fourth-year students with both the technical knowledge and professional skills essential for success beyond the classroom.
 
“My goal is to help them grow into well-rounded engineers—not just technically capable, but also able to communicate their ideas and work effectively with others,” said Larson. “Supporting that transformation is important to me because those are the qualities that really matter—the ones that will enable them to succeed in the real world—and it’s incredibly inspiring to see that growth take place.”
 
Students showed their appreciation by selecting Larson as the Computer Engineering Department’s Outstanding Teaching Assistant. It’s a recognition that speaks volumes to Larson, who has also served as an undergraduate mentor for the ECE Department’s first-year project course and provided free tutoring for COE courses as a member of Tau Beta Pi.
 
“It's extremely touching that so many people would come out to say that I’ve helped them,” said Larson, who plans to continue working as an electrical design engineer at Teledyne FLIR after completing his master’s degree. “This award affirms that my efforts have had a real impact, and it motivates me to continue finding ways to support and guide others as I transition into my full-time career.”
 
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Advised by computer science (CS) associate professor Daniel Lokshtanov, Ajaykrishnan E S, who goes by Ajay, designs algorithms for graph problems. His primary focus lies in the field of parameterized algorithms, which is focused on tackling computational problems for which it is generally hard to build efficient algorithms. Instead of aiming for a one-size-fits-all solution, he seeks to design theoretically fast algorithms for instances where parameters are bounded — a scenario that often arises in real-world applications.
 
This year, Ajay worked as a TA for three undergraduate CS courses, all of which centered around algorithms. Based on the idea that the best way to learn the techniques taught in class is to apply them to different problems, he prepared a set of questions to guide students toward understanding the material by actively working through them.
 
“For me, an ideal section is one where students work together to solve problems, with my role being just to guide them a bit if they get stuck,” he said. “This is important to me because theoretical computer science, and algorithm design in particular, is something that brings me joy, and I feel that it is my responsibility to communicate that to the students and hopefully get them to feel the same way about the subject.”
 
His approach evidently made an impression, because graduating seniors selected Ajay as the recipient of the 2024-’25 Outstanding CS Teaching Assistant Award.
 
“Personally, I’m glad that I’ve been able to successfully share my passion for algorithms,” he said. “Professionally, this recognition serves as a big confidence boost as I continue my research and work toward a career in academia. I’m truly honored to receive this award and to know that I’m having a positive impact on my students.”
 
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
After completing a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from UCSB in 2023, Max Crisafulli entered the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) PhD Program with a focus on controls. Now, a second-year PhD student, Crisafulli served as a teaching assistant for the first time this year, helping students navigate three undergraduate courses. He said that he emulated the style of his most effective TAs, who were knowledgeable and approachable.
 
“I think the most important thing is to make yourself available and show genuine enthusiasm about the material. I was fortunate enough to TA classes on topics I personally enjoy and had taken when I was an undergraduate, so this came naturally,” explained Crisafulli. “It’s also easy to get bogged down in the math, so I tried to emphasize intuition and highlight how the material connects to other classes they might have taken.”
 
His technique made an impression on graduating seniors, who selected Crisafulli as the recipient of the Electrical Engineering Department’s Outstanding TA Award.
 
“I always aimed to make my office hours and lab sections as useful as possible for the students, and I am thrilled to know that I left enough of a positive impression for them to have voted for me,” said Crisafulli, who plans to work in industry after completing his PhD.
 
Advised by ECE professor Andrew Teel, Crisafulli studies stochastic approximation theory applied to hybrid dynamical systems. Although theoretical, the work can be applied to establish performance guarantees for stochastic optimization algorithms, like those used in modern machine learning, and extremum-seeking control systems.
 
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Mechanical engineering PhD student Max Emerick has worked as a teaching assistant for a variety of undergraduate courses over the years, ranging from vibrations and robotics, to dynamical systems and nonlinear phenomena. He tries to transmit to his students, what he calls, “the keys to the kingdom of science” in each course: curiosity, creative problem solving, self-directed learning, agency over the subject matter, and a view of science as a model and a tool for understanding and manipulating the world around us.
 
“I try to connect the material that students are learning to real-world problems, lead them to discover ideas for themselves, and encourage them ask questions and answer those questions themselves,” explained Emerick, who received a prestigious National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship last fall. “For students who are used to learning in this more traditional style of memorizing, I think this different approach can be somewhat of a revelation and can fundamentally change the way that they relate to science, research, and education.”
 
Students apparently appreciated his approach, selecting Emerick as the Outstanding TA of Mechanical Engineering.
 
“It’s quite an honor. I put a lot of work into being a TA, and I’m glad to know that I’m having a positive impact,” said Emerick, who plans to pursue a faculty position after completing his PhD.

Advised by mechanical engineering professor Bassam Bamieh. Emerick develops mathematical techniques to understand and manipulate density-based systems. Analyzing and manipulating these types of systems is challenging, because they have a near infinite number of ways that they can move. He develops methods that leverage patterns in these systems to make them more tractable to work with.