The tactile tutor: Sandy Auttelet
Experience and Education
Sandy, The Tactile Tutor, graduated from Washington State University (WSU) with Bachelor of Science degrees in physics and theoretical mathematics. She has been a tutor, trainer, and mentor for over 6 years through WSU and other employers where she helped many learners improve their grades, learn new skills, and achieve their career goals.
She is Mental Health First Aid certified, and she is a certified tutor through the College Learning and Reading Association. She has tutored courses from introductory algebra through differential equations and kinematics. Interested in developing new tutoring strategies, she aims to tutor students today in geometry, trigonometry, algebra, and calculus.
Tactile Approach
In our sessions, we frequently use tools to represent physical and mathematical concepts. From throwing pens across the room to represent projectile motion, to constructing 3D graphs from our innovative printed designs, our lessons are personally crafted for students who want a little extra stimulus to keep focused.
Research Interests
The Tactile Tutor's undergraduate research project focused on computing in Python the flat norm using the min-cut max-flow algorithm within NetworkX. She worked with Dr. Kevin Vixie in his group, Integrated Science and Mathematics, to develop this work with four mathematics PhD candidates. By exploiting geometric properties, the flat norm computes the upper bound of the mean curvature of an initial data set. Using differential geometry, one can use this computation for classification and denoising techniques.