Educational Biography
Damien Adams grew up in Humboldt County in northern California. He graduated in 2007 from College of the Redwoods with an A.S. in University Studies and continued his studies at Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt). In 2010, he graduated from HSU with a B.A. in Mathematics and a minor in Music. Immediately after finishing his bachelor’s studies, Damien and his wife moved to the Bay Area and studied at San Jose State University. After three years, he earned his M.S. from SJSU in Mathematics, while simultaneously publishing his thesis, Galois Theory and the Hilbert Irreducibility Theorem.
While at SJSU doing his graduate studies, Damien was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to try his hand at instruction. First, he got a job as a mathematics tutor at ThinkTank Learning in Cupertino, CA. After less than a year of doing 1-1, 2-1, and 3-1 tutoring, he took on a Teaching Associate position at SJSU, leading Calculus workshops and Developmental Mathematics labs, and teaching College Algebra. Upon graduating SJSU, he taught a six-week mathematics course in Algebra II/Trigonometry for Math Enrichment, a WASC-accredited summer program for high school students whose goal is to advance/enrich/recover.
In the fall of 2013, Damien became an adjunct mathematics instructor at Cabrillo College in Aptos, CA. After one year, Damien earned a full time, tenure-track position at the same college. During his three years as a full time instructor at Cabrillo, he taught over 110 semester units ranging from beginning arithmetic to linear algebra, formed and advised a highly active math club (the Cabrillo Math Group), acted as a PREP instructor for three semesters, and participated in shared governance. In addition to his work at Cabrillo college directly, Damien became a member of the 12th cohort of the American Mathematical Association for Two Year Colleges‘ (AMATYC) Project ACCCESS (Advancing Community College Careers: Education, Scholarship, and Service). While in Project ACCCESS, Damien developed a podcast, Women in Math: The Limit Does Not Exist, described below. Moreover, he learned of Portland Community College, where he took his career in 2017.
Since beginning teaching at PCC Rock Creek in Fall 2017, Damien has taught Calculus I, II, and III, Vector Calculus I and II, and Linear Algebra, formed and advises a Math Club (described below), developed an online Calculus III course, developed Vector Calculus II, and worked on several committees including the Calculus Textbook and CCOG Committees, and the Math SAC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
Damien has been happily married since 2009, enjoys cooking, loves spending quality time with friends, goes to as many metal concerts as he can, and has played the tuba since 2000.
COVID-19
The world has been and is continuing to be reformed by this virus, and we are all doing whatever we can to adjust. We are trying to learn what we can retain and recover from before the virus, what we should unlearn, and what we might be able to create in this new era. In terms of education, this new time of remote instruction is new for all of us – instructors and students alike. This is not the traditional system that we learned how to navigate. I recognize that we are all struggling to find balance and safety. As such, I have been emphasizing my tenant of flexibility as much as possible.
Times are quite different, and very little is certain and known. If you are feeling this way, know that you are not alone.
Office Hours
An Office Hour is a time reserved for students to get assistance with their schooling from their instructor, primarily for content reasons.
Damien’s office can be found at the Rock Creek PCC campus in Building 2, Room 210 (#19). A map of the building can be found here.
Teaching Philosophy
I love to teach, and I love to share the beauty of mathematics with any and all who wish to listen and learn. Mathematics is the most beautiful, complex, intricate, and precise invention that humans have ever created or even conceived of. To study mathematics is to lose yourself in a playground of the mind. It is a study of relationships, consequences, and explorations.
Because it is cerebral and exists entirely in the imagination, to communicate our thoughts to others necessitates a commonality of language. Regardless of what the native language happened to be, mathematical language was developed independently over several millennia by various cultures in order to record and communicate these abstract observations, ideas, and aspirations. Historically, we used math to describe what we observed around us, but mathematics has now transcended from knowing what it is we are seeing to seeing what we know must be there. We now use mathematics to predict the future and to make connections that are not obvious. I make it my duty to try to share these strategies and appreciations to others.
I work to emphasize five aspects in my courses:
1. Exposure: I want you to see new and interesting mathematical material and ideas.
2. Communication: I want you to be able to speak the mathematical language and to write proper mathematical statements. I want you to be able to perform mathematics as well as explain your thoughts to others.
3. Performance: I want you to be able to perform the mathematical computations and execute the theoretical steps that you are exposed to.
4. Appreciation: I want you to develop an appreciation for mathematics – whether this means learning to love or enjoy mathematics or whether this means to hate mathematics less depends upon the student.
5. Application: I want you to be able to take the mathematics you learn inside the classroom and be able to recognize its value outside of the classroom.
My style of instruction is what I like to call interactive lecture. I attempt to pull in the class as often as possible, frequently asking for participation from the class. I make a strong attempt to make sure that we are all on the same page before moving on, asking for questions throughout working through examples and theory. If I do not receive a response, then that
tells me one of two things: either you completely understand and feel that a response is beneath you, or that you have no idea what is going on and don’t even understand the question. That said, I will assume that you understand, so if you do not understand, please let me know!
I will always try to be as transparent as possible with my teaching. I am not out to trick you, but I do hold a high standard of expectation from you! Come to each class on time, stay the duration of each class, and be prepared to work hard!
Grading Philosophy
First and foremost, being a mathematics student is not about “getting the right answer”. Being a mathematics student is about learning how to think. Being a mathematics student is about learning how to problem solve. Being a mathematics student is about being able to communicate your thought process to others via oral and written methods. This means
that the most important part of doing math is showing your work. Getting the “right answer” is a consequence of that thought process rather than the focus. When I grade an assignment, I keep five points in mind.
1. Do you understand what is being asked?
2. Do you know what to do?
3. Do you know how to do it?
4. Can you do it?
5. Do you know how to state your conclusion?
When you are asked a question, my hope is that you will be able to comprehend the question, go through the process of answering the question, and to communicate your thought process. I want you to be able to not only utilize this process with \math” problems but outside of the classroom and in your everyday life, as well.
Lastly, it is my belief that if you wish to be comfortable for the next course, then a “B” grade or higher should be your goal. A grade of a “C” indicates that you passed the course and will be ready for the next one as long as you identify your areas that you need to improve and do work to enhance those areas before the next course.
Math Club
I advise the Math Club at PCC Rock Creek, founded in October 2017. We have done several things including
- Hosting an e-Day Event (2/7/18)
- Hosting a Pi Day Event (3/14)
- Assisting with MathFest 2018 at Rock Creek
- Assisting with MathFest 2019 at Cascade
- Taking field trips to OMSI
- Participating in an Escape Room
- Developing “Cheat Sheets”
- Hosting Math Movie Night, showing Hidden Figures
- Hosting a Mathematics Symposium on Topology
- Hosting a Mathematics Symposium on The Three Waves of AI (Video here)
- Hosting a Math Competition at PCC Rock Creek
- Having fun with mathematics!
For more information on participating in the club, please contact me!