Course Development Assistant

Description

The Course Development Assistant will collaborate with Dr. Peter Zhang to build instructional materials for the graduate course “From Data to Action: Designing Human-Centered, Impact-Driven Decision Systems” (Fall 2025, Heinz College).

Key Responsibilities (8-12 hrs / week)

• Draft and polish LaTeX course notes, Beamer slide decks, and Jupyter notebooks.

• Assemble realistic datasets and code scaffolds for two flagship case studies (Senegal irrigation placement; Pittsburgh flu-surge staffing).

• Write homework assignments, project sprint templates, and grading rubrics that align with ABET/Heinz learning objectives.

• Curate up-to-date reading lists (bleeding-edge ML & optimization papers published 2023-2025) and integrate them into weekly teaching modules.

• Coordinate with the instructor and TAs to ensure accessibility, version-control rigor (Git/GitHub), and on-time delivery of materials.

• Maintain high production standards (clear visuals, ADA-compliant PDFs, reproducible code).

Qualifications

• Graduate student (master’s, ABD, or PhD) or professional in Operations Research, Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or Public-Policy Analytics

• Demonstrated proficiency in Python, LaTeX, Git, optimization libraries (e.g., Gurobi, OR-Tools) and common ML frameworks.

• Prior experience creating instructional content or serving as a teaching assistant strongly preferred.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to meet deadlines independently. 

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Carnegie Mellon University is an equal opportunity employer. It does not discriminate in admission, employment, or administration of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy or related condition, family status, marital status, parental status, religion, ancestry, veteran status, or genetic information.  Furthermore, Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate and is required not to discriminate in violation of federal, state, or local laws or executive orders. Consistent with this commitment, Carnegie Mellon will no longer be requiring or considering applicant diversity statements. If you are interested in this position and have not yet submitted a diversity statement, please do not do so. If you have already submitted a diversity statement, please know that any diversity statements submitted by applicants for this opportunity will not be considered in the hiring decision.