Testimonials
I’m grateful to have worked with many great students, colleagues, and mentors over the years. When I started teaching in Canada at 24, I wasn’t fully confident in my English and was teaching one of the most challenging subjects—digital signal processing. By focusing on simplifying concepts and starting with real-world applications, the experience became more engaging and effective, which led to receiving a teaching award at UVic in 2012. Here are a few kind words shared along the way.
It was really during my ELEC 260 tutorials where I identified that Iman's style of teaching was superior to most. His explanations are direct and concise. He instructs in a very procedural manner, never overcomplicates his explanations, and consistently brings extra handouts or real world examples. His teaching style is exactly what an engineering student requires. His tutorial sessions were undoubtedly the most useful tutorials I had ever taken.
Iman possessed a gift that I rarely witnessed with my previous T.A.'s over my years at Uvic, and that was the ability to connect with his students on a personal and professional level simultaneously. He made a consistent effort to keep his course material fresh, exciting and relevant to everyone involved in his section. I could truly see his passion for the material through his work ethic, and it made it an engaging experience for me, and for my friends in the class.
Iman demonstrated much enthusiasm, passion and knowledge when conducting a tutorial session. In my three years at the university so far, Iman has been the best tutorial instructor I have had.
He is one of the best instructors I have had and will likely ever come across, in all aspects of teaching and personality. What I most admire about Mr. Moazzen is his remarkable ability to explain the course material and provide practical applications to theoretical knowledge, stimulating students' desire to learn. In his classes, he tries to connect concepts from the textbook to real life examples, making the topic much more interesting. His dynamic teaching style draws students to listen so attentively that they don't want to miss a single minute. We all have to strive to achieve the best, but the effort of an instructor makes all the difference in helping students reach their full potential. If we could have instructors like Mr. Moazzen teaching everything, then I am positive that every student will be eager to learn and achieve the most they can.
Throughout my 3 years of academics at UVic, Iman has by far been the most memorable TA in terms of effectiveness, clarity, teaching ability, having a positive attitude, influence on the subject, and dependability. He played a huge part in making Digital Signal Processing tolerable for many of us, and even influencing a lot of us to love the subject. I can say without hesitation that almost all of my peers can attest to that statement. His teaching style was very clear and concise. He had an ability to break down a complicated concept so that students like myself could understand not only how to solve a problem, but why it was solved that way. Tutorials were very well structured. He was able to cover key concepts while keeping the class interesting and moving at a steady pace.
Iman had the ability to connect with the students and help them grasp difficult options. He did this by coming well prepared to tutorials, having handouts in order to guide the students, and always being enthusiastic about the course material. Furthermore, he was always willing to answer any additional questions outside of regular tutorial class time.
Iman's teaching style is fast paced but very informative in the sense that in 50 minutes, he can go through 5 complete examples that collectively sum up the learning's of last weeks class lectures; yet he still manages to thoroughly cover those concepts without skimming over or vaguely describing them.
Iman always taught with confidence and clarity. His voice projected, and he always spoke with a steady pace while putting emphasis on keywords which helped understand the big picture. Iman always approached the material positively, and taking ELEC 260 with him as a TA was a pleasure.
In addition to being organized and prepared, Iman maintains a positive, patient attitude towards students. When students are frustrated with difficult options, he is able to break the option down into steps that are easy to understand.
One of the most impressive qualities of Mr. Moazzen is his passion and enthusiasm for teaching. This is evident in his teaching style, the quality of instructional materials he prepares, and his availability and openness to students who require assistance outside of class time. Unlike no other teaching assistant I have encountered during my time as an undergraduate student, Mr. Moazzen's teaching style allows him to eloquently and succinctly explain complicated engineering options while still retaining an attitude that makes him approachable and helpful to those he is teaching.
Iman Moazzen demonstrated enthusiasm for student learning, and made the course he was teaching look much easier than I thought.
I can easily say without any hesitation that Iman has been one of the best TAs I have had at UVic and I would not hesitate to take a course with him again.
Iman is a smart T.A. because he explained the complicated topics using a straightforward approach that was really easy to comprehend.
Iman's tutorials got to the point of being so informative on the subject matter of the class I started attending his tutorial only and using the class time for other tasks from the many classes I was taking at the time. What really sets Iman apart from almost every teacher I have had while attending university is that he would go out of his way to ask how things were going not only in my university life but in my personal life as we walked by each other and would offer every time I ran into him to help with anything. Iman would sit down with myself and other students at any time of day, leaving and arriving to go over class material always with a smile.
ELEC 360 was one of the more challenging courses that I had taken in my career thus far and I feel that the lab sections helped me out greatly because Iman would always explain the concepts behind each lab very clearly. I felt that he knew the material inside and out and was able to explain it clearly and could answer any questions that the students had.
He puts in extra effort so that each student in our tutorial section understands the material and he does not leave the room until all questions have been answered. Mr.Moazzen is also very enthusiastic with the material covered and relates them to real world examples. Without his guidance my understanding of the material would have been poor.
I had Iman as teaching assistant for ELEC 260 (Signals and Systems) in the summer 2011 and that made the difference between failing this course and actually understanding it. He came in the tutorials prepared with real life examples on his laptop and still was able cover the content of three classes in one tutorial. And that in ELEC 260 is no easy feat. For each option he had worked out examples with various approaches and those he wrote up on the white board with lighting speed, we were just waiting for the marker to catch fire.
Compared with other TAs and professors, Iman goes through examples much faster than any other class or tutorial I have been in. Many times, this can be a bad thing in a class, as it is typically easy to fall behind in understanding of the problem, however, this is simply not the case with Iman. Even though Iman is very fast, he is also very strategic over how he presents material to a class.
Iman is one of the most effective TAs I've had the pleasure of being taught by. His teaching style is very logical and straightforward, which suits engineering students perfectly. When explaining concepts and presenting examples, Iman never said anything more than was necessary, which is a curious thing to witness that I have yet to see with any other TA. He never gave any unnecessary information, tried to link the ideas he was teaching us to unrelated concepts, or wasted any time thinking about what he was going to do next.
There was never a dull or boring tutorial class while Iman was teaching. He was clear, easy to follow, and prepared for questions. Although the material in this particular course was extremely difficult, Iman always inspired me to excel by showing a constant passion and drive, as well as, a respect and concern towards his students.
Iman is not only a math-magician, but knows how to effectively pass this knowledge on to others. Choosing the right level of complexity is his strength, as he creates a challenging, motivating learning environment. He is a skilled teacher, valued colleague and good friend!
I attended a series of workshops on energy system modelling run by Iman. He provided an excellent structure for the workshops and his approach was tailored well to the subject matter. He articulated the key concepts clearly and led the sessions enthusiastically to keep the participants engaged. It was both an informative and enjoyable learning experience.
I've had the pleasure of knowing Iman personally since I entered into the PhD program at the University of Victoria. Beyond Iman's obvious strength in mathematics and the physical sciences, what struck me most is his strong interest in continually improving himself as a professional. Iman does not fear the unknown (like many academics) and he is always keen on leaping into uncharted waters. All the while, Iman is still a humble, charming, caring, and approachable person.
Iman has been one of the strongest programmers I have ever had the pleasure of working with. He helped me to implement my master degree final project in Matlab and I would say he knows Matlab better than his mother language. Also, he has a great understanding of many code languages and code optimization. It was great to work with him at University of Victoria and would be great to work with him again.
I have worked with Mr Moazen in many occasions when I had problem in Matlab. He had a very good understanding of the problems and helped me to solve them. He has ability to connect with his student and accomplishing his task with great initiative and very positive attitude.
Mr. Moazen's critical and dynamic mind set and problem solving way of thinking have made his consultations to be effective and productive. He has always been so motivated and welcoming to new engineering problems even out of his scope of research and work.
Iman listens carefully to student questions, provides clear and thoughtful answers and adjusts his approach when he finds that his message is not being understood. Iman is energetic and enthusiastic in the classroom. Iman is a valuable member of the team of TAs who work in these courses and has provided a great deal of useful feedback that has helped me to improve the quality of the Design Laboratories.
Iman is working hard for his tutorials and lab sessions. He prepares the material thoroughly, presents it in a way that makes it accessible to students and is always available to help students with their questions. This is also reflected in the excellent feedback he has received in his evaluations.
To put it simply, if Iman is working on a problem, it will be solved for sure, with surprising speed and ingenuity. In my view, Iman is an undeniably talented engineer, who excels in both theoretical research and practical development.
Iman has consistently performed extremely well in his tutorial TA teaching evaluations. In fact, his evaluations are amongst the very best that I have seen of any TA that I have had in my time at the University of Victoria. It is clear that students have a deep respect for Iman and value his teaching abilities greatly. Iman is hard working and has consistently performed extremely well as a tutorial TA every time that I have worked with him. Most importantly, he cares deeply about his students and has a strong passion for teaching. Iman has a special talent for explaining complex concepts in terms that students can easily understand.
Iman is an enthusiastic, caring, and knowledgeable individual. He was hired as a teaching assistant when I taught a first-year engineering design course with over 400 students. Although it was not his job responsibility but Iman volunteered to help the other 10 TAs to prepare for the lab projects, as well as assisted many students including the ones that were not in his sessions. I often call him the 'Super TA'. He has attended teaching training sessions and also has won teaching awards. Most impressively, I have seen Iman with the same passionate approach in his research, management, and other affairs.
How often do you find a (Matlab) File Exchange contribution with a YouTube video? A video can be a wonderfully effective way to explain a concept. In less than 3 minutes, it enabled Iman to teach me everything I needed to know about his toolbox. It's a UI that implements an active contour model. The user supplies an image file and a series of initial points. The algorithm then moves the points in an attempt to outline the perimeter of an object.
Iman consistently over-preformed during his time with the 2060 Project; he has an inane ability to quickly grasp difficult concepts and replicate their results through his impressive modelling and coding skillset. Never one to back down from difficult concepts, rather seeing them as a challenge to overcome, Iman relishes the opportunities to pass along his knowledge to others and truly cares about passing that knowledge along in a digestible and audience appropriate manner.
Iman was a tremendous help with the teaching of ENGR 110 and 120, and his influence has improved the coursrs' content. Iman has exceptionally good skills in mathematics, and he can apply his skills well in the classroom, and explain solutions to undergraduetes and other teaching assistants in a clear and practical fashion. During weekly TA meetings, Iman consistently gave clear and well reasoned feedback on issues and how the course could be improved.
Mr. Moazzen has shown a constructive combination of talent, industry, interest in academics and self-reliance. Even though our MSc. program is basically teaching oriented, the students are required to do an independent investigation as a major component. Mr. Moazzen's performance in this regard was outstanding. He manifested profound interest and extraordinary ability to concentrate upon and follow new and rather complex subjects. He possesses good analytical mind and mathematical background and is well-prepared, both academically and intentionally, to pursue a successful career.
Iman is very motivated for success and has proved to be serious about realizing his goals. I am sure that he is quite capable of conducting research work independently and he will be a very good team member both in research and industry environments. Mr. Moazzen's humble and serious attitude makes him a pleasant person to work with. I believe he has a critical mind and very good intellectual capacity with excellent background in mathematics.
It is a great accomplishment of yours to motivate the students to excel and perform so well in a first-year course. The labs, lectures, design project, and the final competition were well organized under the current climate of restricted resources. The whole autonomous robot building experience is a great way for our students to start learning engineering design.
