Cory Gardner

Teaching

I care about making complex computational ideas accessible, and I worked on pedagogical development at SLU's Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning.

Teaching experience

Graduate Assistant, Reinert Center

Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning · Jul 2025 – May 2026

Supported university-wide pedagogical development: assisted with the Certificate in University Teaching Skills, facilitated workshops, and consulted on educational technology and inclusive teaching.

  • Pedagogy
  • Faculty development
  • EdTech

Data Structures

Teaching Assistant · 2023 – 2024

Guided students through arrays, linked lists, trees, and graphs; developed supplementary materials and led weekly lab sessions.

  • C++
  • Algorithms
  • Problem solving

Distributed Computing

Teaching Assistant · 2023 – 2024

Assisted with distributed systems concepts, including message passing, consensus algorithms, and cloud computing architectures.

  • Distributed systems
  • MPI
  • Cloud computing

Concurrent and Parallel Programming

Teaching Assistant · 2023 – 2024

Taught parallel programming paradigms, thread synchronization, and GPU computing with CUDA, and helped students build high-performance applications.

  • CUDA
  • OpenMP
  • Threading

Introduction to Bioinformatics

Teaching Assistant · 2023 – 2024

Introduced computational biology, sequence alignment, phylogenetics, and genomic analysis tools, bridging biology and computer science.

  • Sequence analysis
  • Python
  • R

Introduction to Bioinformatics II

Supplemental Instructor · 2024

Provided additional support for advanced topics including RNA-seq analysis, genome assembly, and variant calling.

  • NGS analysis
  • Genome assembly
  • RNA-seq

Workshops & talks

  1. Mar 31, 2026

    Practical Strategies for UDL in PowerPoint

    Teaching Essentials Workshop, Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning.

  2. Oct 28, 2025

    Practical Considerations when Choosing Digital Learning Tools

    Workshop for faculty and graduate students on evaluating and implementing learning technologies, hosted by the Reinert Center.

  3. Aug 14, 2025

    Effective Teaching Practices for First-Time Teachers

    Orientation session for incoming Graduate Assistants, hosted by the Reinert Center.

Teaching philosophy

Interactive learning

Learning works best when students engage through hands-on exercises, coding challenges, and real-world examples. I encourage questions and a classroom where curiosity is welcome.

Concept visualization

Algorithms and data structures become clearer when you can see them. I use diagrams, animations, and live coding to help students build mental models.

Scaffolded learning

I build from fundamentals to advanced topics so students have solid foundations before tackling complex problems.

Collaborative problem-solving

Group projects and pair programming teach students to communicate technical ideas and work in teams, skills essential in research and industry.

Teaching impact

Students taught
200+
Courses assisted
5
Lab hours
300+

Student resources

I support student learning beyond the classroom with:

  • Office hours for one-on-one help
  • Supplementary coding examples and tutorials
  • Study guides for exam preparation
  • Code review sessions for course projects