MIT Classes I Have Taken

I have been at MIT since Fall 2018 and in the meantime have taken a few classes here and there. Here’s the list, in order from most to least recent. Grades are omitted but I have a 4.9/5.0 GPA on all of my degrees so feel free to infer.

Format: Class Number · Class Title · Notes

Fall Term 2025-2026 (PhD Year 1) 39 units. Taking a “break” from research to be an undergrad for just a little longer.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
6.5060	Algorithm Engineering	A thorough introduction to the field of algorithm engineering, from basic parallel graph algorithms to cutting-edge research on stencil computations, streaming graph processing, compression, and sorting. Highly recommend the reading list.
6.5130	Introduction to Program Synthesis	Introduction to the wild and varied field of program synthesis, including how to effectively parse an infinitely large search space using symbolic representation, and efficient deployment + fine-tuning of LLMs for synthesis applications.

Spring Term 2024-2025 (SMBT Year 2) 48 units. Note: TA for 4.440 Introduction to Structural Design.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
6.C511	Modeling with Machine Learning for Computer Science	Applications to CS as a research field, developing topics such as reinforcement learning and latent space representation.
6.C51	Modeling with Machine Learning: Algorithms to Applications	Rigorous introduction to mathematical backend of backpropagation, diffusion modelling, transformer architectures etc.

January Term 2024-2025 (SMBT Year 2) 12 units.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
4.S54	Special Subject: Architecture Computation	Open-ended exploration of 3D printing toolpaths for spanning systems using earth as the printing medium.

Fall Term 2024-2025 (SMBT Year 2) 39 units. Note: TA for 4.450 Computational Structural Design and Optimization.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
1.125	Architecting and Engineering Software Systems	Low-key don’t take this class unless you’re a Sloan student really interested in prompt engineering for LLMs.
4.463	Building Technology Systems: Structure and Envelopes	Third Building Technology class for MArchs, review of structural systems and introduction to multi-layer envelope design.
6.7300	Introduction to Modeling and Simulation	Application of the numerical methods learned in 6.7310 to modeling an actual physical system. Final project was on heat diffusion through a room.

Spring Term 2023-2024 (SMBT Year 1) 36 units.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
1.541	Mechanics and Design: Concrete Structures	Engineering workflow for concrete structure design. Harder than steel because it’s a multimaterial problem, but also in many ways more interesting. Wrote more python solvers.
4.S43	Special Subject: Building Technology (Thermal Science)	Class about modern methods for controlling thermal transmission through buildings using computer-aided design and manufacturing (3D-printing clay with a robot).
6.7310	Introduction to Numerical Methods	PhD math class about the theory underpinning numerical algorithms (matrix multiplication, decomposition, etc.)

Fall Term 2023-2024 (SMBT Year 1)

36 units.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
6.7200	Optimization Methods	Linear optimization theory and methods (taught in Julia). Developed my first optimizer for steel beam construction, assuming variation in both depth and flange width.
17.000	Political Philosophy	I’d missed taking heavy-reading classes and this certainly delivered. Had to learn how to approach paper-writing in a new discipline which was super interesting. Read some texts/formed some opinions that influence my opinions on vegetarianism, growing up in an ex-colonial city, and the experience of being a woman in western society to this day.
18.0851	Computational Science and Engineering I	Finally took a linear algebra class.

Summer 2023 (Super-Senior/SMBT Year 1) 0 units. OPT.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
Internship	Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM)	Developed algorithms for optimal placement and angle of largest array of solar panels in NYC for Governor’s Island New York Climate Exchange. New York Office.

Spring Term 2022-2023 (Super-Senior) 50 units. Note: TA for 4.453 Creative Machine Learning.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
1.582	Steel Structures	Steel structural system analysis in conventional engineering pipeline. Joists → girders → columns. Got bored and built a python-based solver that would do my homework for me.
11.C35	Interactive Data Visualization and Society	Fun class and even better team. Was design and story lead for final project, which was based on developing an interactive visualization for telling the story of prospective migrants’ financial situations and options in South America.

Fall Term 2022-2023 (Super-Senior) 61 units.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
1.583	Topology Optimization of Structures	Introduction to theory and practice of topology optimization. Developed initial version of topology optimization over ground structures for lateral systems that would be used in MEng thesis.
4.481	Building Technology Seminar	How to do research as a graduate student in Building Technology. Learned a lot about Mass Ave Bridge in my attempt to understand its history and develop a finite element model.
6.1010	Fundamentals of Programming	Dramatically hard CS class that moves beyond the syntactic way of thinking about programming to a systematic way. Changed my world because I fell in love.
11.188	Introduction to Spatial Analysis and GIS	How to use data to make maps that are not only legible, but beautiful and compelling. Worked with City of New Orleans to understand impact of flooding on infrastructure and housing.

Spring Term 2021-2022 (Senior) 57 units. Note: severely concussed in near-death bike accident.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
1.563	Structural Design Project II	With same team as for 1.562, developed an architectural and structural proposal for a multi-use high-rise building to replace the Empire State. Class was taught by representatives from Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM).
2.001	Mechanics and Materials I	Stress, strain, and everything in-between. Took the harder version that lives in Course 2 (Mechanical Engineering).
4.453	Creative Machine Learning	Introduction to Machine Learning for applications in creative fields (architecture, music etc.) with an emphasis on how to build and deploy models for projects.
4.401	Tiny Fab: Advances in Rapid Design	Designed a tiny home. Was particularly interested in the study of assemblies in wooden homes and the question of how one might be able to generate them automatically (it seemed tedious to do manually). Ended up designing a script that would automatically generate a whole wooden stud framing system for a given floor plan a year later.
11.145	International Housing Economics and Finance	Super cool urban planning class where I focused my final project on the “troglodyte” super-luxury basements of London’s super-wealthy.

January Term 2021-2022 (Senior) 0 units (for pay).

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
N/A	Undergraduate Research (MIT D-Lab w. Les Norford and John Ochsendorf)	Chief architect and structural engineer for a school building in Masiaka, Sierra Leone. It’s actually built and also neon pink.

Fall Term 2021-2022 (Senior) 60 units. Note: declared double major in Course 11 (Urban Planning).

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
1.562	Structural Design Project I	Designed and built a long-span roof system for MIT courtyard. Geometries created using combination of code, optimization methods, and structural intuition. Responsible for preliminary design, model, and physics simulation.
4.411	D-Lab Schools: Building Technology	Class that synthesized all the aspects of Building Technology thus far learned (environmental conditions inside buildings, designing a building using physical sunlight models and simulations, structural analysis and CFD).
4.451	Computational Structural Design and Optimization	First class with Caitlin Mueller! First exposure, also, to optimization algorithms. Did a final project based on a phenomenal exchange I had with Graham King (legendary boat manufacturer) where I sampled the design space created by the interplay between shell structure (boat hull) and truss (interior superstructure) to reveal the optimal arrangement of trusses in a single scull and demonstrate the stiffness of the combined system.
4.603	Understanding Modern Architecture	Great class not necessarily about the year-to-year history of architecture but the ideas that underlie significant movements, how architecture has intersected and influenced culture, etc. Turned me into a forever-brutalism supporter.
11.001	Introduction to Urban Design and Development	One of the best classes I’ve taken at MIT. Not to be dramatic but it changed the way I see cities, the built environment, and the world.

Summer Term 2021 (Junior/Senior) 0 units (for pay).

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
2.URN	Undergraduate Research (MIT Ideation Laboratory w. Maria Yang)	Did an extensive literature review on lunar regolith: what it’s made of, how it behaves under different environmental conditions, how it might be used to manufacture in-situ on the moon (slurry, sintering, glass 3D-printing etc.)

Spring Term 2020-2021 (Junior) 57 units. Note: on campus but taking classes remotely.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
3.091	Introduction to Solid-State Chemistry	Realized that my favourite part of hard science is the stories that make hard science happen. Also, simulated annealing is so much more relevant when you know what actual annealing is.
4.024	Architecture Design Studio II	Second (and last) architecture studio. Actually phenomenal, I did some of my best work in this class. These included a series of vegetables that I performed physical boolean operations on, two very cool diagrams, great collage art, and a somewhat unsettling final project. (The first cool diagram was a geometry I built entirely in code because I decide that it was way more fun than regular CAD.)
15.401	Managerial Finance	Accounting is black magic and spreadsheets are awesome.
HAA.2805	Pre-Advanced Mode Chinese	Harvard cross-registration to continue Chinese language classes.

January Term 2020-2021 (Junior) 6 units. Note: on campus but taking classes remotely.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
4.090	Practical Experience Architecture Undergrad.	Interned at NOBULL. Designed and presented an end-to-end sustainability pipeline for the apparel company.

Fall Term 2020-2021 (Junior)

76 units. Note: on campus but taking classes remotely.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
4.184	Architectural Design Workshop	Computational methods for self-assembling Kintsugi tiles.
4.614	Building Islam	A fascinating history of Islam told through the medium of Islamic architecture. Several critical essays on the lasting religious and cultural significance of key artifacts.
8.02	Physics II	Much more interesting class than Physics I, in part due to the phenomenal TAs.
11.002	Making Public Policy	Taught jointly with political science. Focused on the political systems for lawmaking and public policy in the United States, with especial emphasis on health policy.
11.485	Southern Urbanisms	Grad level discussion not only of “international development” in the global south but also vernacular innovation and contemporary research directions.
14.01	Principles of Microeconomics	Pretty much what it sounds like. Plus this awesome playlist which introduced me to so much great rock music. Thank you Gruber.
HAA.2531 (Harvard)	Pre-Advanced Mode Chinese	Harvard cross-registration to continue Chinese language classes.

Spring Term 2019-2020 (Sophomore) 60 units. Note: campus closed for COVID-19 in March.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
4.302	Art, Design, and Spatial Practice	Weird art class that was required for the major. Made a cool animation but was not sure what the point was.
4.440	Introduction to Structural Design	Developed a physics model for a parametric suspension bridge for the final project.
7.014	Introductory Biology (Ecology)	Did not want to leave it to senior year and thought it was very interesting but was also quite glad to be done with the course.
11.005	Introduction to International Development	I think this course was kind of cancelled after the COVID shut-down, but I recall this being my first exposure to the challenges of designing urban improvement projects in the global south.
21G.120	Business Chinese	Chinese for native speakers Level 6 with an emphasis on professional Chinese. Most advanced Chinese language class MIT offers.

January Term 2019-2020 (Sophomore) 9 units.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
6.145	Intro to Python	Accelerated (and slightly truncated) version of Intro to Python class over January term.
6.906	StartMIT: Workshop	Startup development together with teammates from Momentum. Began work on SpeakEasy.

Fall Term 2019-2020 (Sophomore) 69 units.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
4.023	Architectural Design Studio I	First architecture studio. Hated it. Did nothing at all but adjust line weights for the week before the final crit. Was told I should not use the things I learned in 4.401 in studio (rebelled and used them anyway). Took a year and a half off studio as a result.
4.401	Environmental Technology in Buildings	Exposure to sophisticated physics-based energy use and daylighting analysis tools in Grasshopper.
4.500	Design Computation: Art/Object/Space	Learned complex 3D-CAD modelling. Got a concussion because I was too excited about solving a doubly curved surface. Designed and built a functioning modular chair.
4.S23	Special subject: Architecture Studies	Carry-over from the summer. Helped Dean Hashim Sarkis with initial planning for Venice Biennale alongside MArch students.
21G.113	Chinese V (Streamlined)	Chinese for native speakers Level 5.

Summer Term 2019 (Freshman/Sophomore) 0 units (for pay).

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
MAS.URN	Undergraduate Research (Mediated Matter Group, Media Lab, w. Neri Oxman)	Contributed to the development of algorithmically-designed and robotically-manufactured biomaterials. Also, counted (literally) every single tree in Central Park.

Spring Term 2018-2019 (Freshman) 48 units.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
4.022	Intro to Design Techniques and Technologies	Second design studio. Origin story for my journey into computational design is that I sat under my dorm bed for a weekend watching Grasshopper tutorials on YouTube and became the Grasshopper person on every design team forever onward.
8.011	Physics I (late edition)	Again (since I dropped Physics I hard edition). Learned that the key to technical classes at MIT is to find the problem solving pattern and get really good at it.
12.007	Geobiology	Loved learning about the development of life on Earth. I’ve never used the knowledge since but it was so cool.
17.41	International Relations	Learned about the theory of international relations which has helped me contextualize things to the present day. Also became self aware about the degree to which I was politically indoctrinated as a child.
21G.110	Chinese IV (Streamlined)	Chinese for native speakers Level 4.

January Term 2018-2019 (Freshman) 18 units.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
16.682	Momentum	Startup simulator where we worked on developing improvements to the GM Cruise vehicles (before they stopped making money and were discontinued by the parent company.) Our team made a machine vision model to identify objects forgotten in robotaxis and a series of info-slides for the seatback display (that were ultimately used to inspire real Cruise features).
18.02A (Part 2)	Calculus	Super-accelerated January version of the second half of mult-variable calculus.

Fall Term 2018-2019 (Freshman) 54 units.

Class Number	Class Title	Notes
4.021	How to Design	First architecture (“design”) studio. Learned a lot about making-things-that-make-things and built some neat sculptures.
4.UR	Undergraduate Research (Self-Assembly Lab w. Skylar Tibbits)	Collaborated with Lavender Tessmer on her early PhD research in textile design.
8.012	Physics I (hard edition)	Could have tested out of Physics I entirely and chose to test into the hard version instead because I wanted to double major in the field. Broke my brain over it for nine weeks because while my physics was good, at the time I lacked the math priors. Dropped the class. Best decision I made in freshman year.
18.01A	Calculus	Accelerated version of single-variable calculus.
18.02A (Part 1)	Calculus	First half of multi-variable calculus.
ES.S70	Experimental Study Group Intro to CS	Class with my freshman year advisor who was the first person to show me that I could solve weird machine vision problems with code. Hard-coded a numeral-identifying algorithm for elevator numbers then used a model trained on MNIST.
21G.109	Chinese III (Streamlined)	Chinese for native speakers Level 3 (tested out of Levels 1-2).