Cover Letters
Resumé for Interviews
Camilla (Cammy) Mei-Fang Kao
Date: 15 Apr 2025
SUMMARY
A former academic seeking a career in public education as a math teacher. A believer in high standards. Passionate about mathematics, numeracy, and guiding children of all socioeconomic backgrounds toward independent learning.
EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATION
1997 Doctorate of Philosophy of Chemical Engineering from Stanford University in Stanford, California. Adviser: Chaitan Khosla.
1992 Bachelor of Science Magna Cum Laude of Chemical Engineering from Rice University in Houston, Texas.
In Progress: Teacher Certification from the Region 4 Inspire Texas Educator Preparation Program in the area of 4-8/Mathematics (also accepted in the areas of 7-12/Mathematics, 4-8/Science, 7-12/Science, and 7-12/Chemistry). Total Scaled Score of Test "115 MATHEMATICS 4-8": 298.
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Clinical Teacher at Neff Elementary School in the Houston Independent School District in Houston, Texas, from 23 Jan 2023 until the present. Mentor: Amy Chea, 5th grade math.
Math Tutor in Houston, Texas, and in Palo Alto, California, from 14 Jan 2024 until the present.
Tutoring math to an elementary schooler and now middle schooler.
Special Assistant to CEO at Kainomyx Inc. in South San Francisco and in Palo Alto, California, from 22 Feb 2021 until 14 May 2021.
For a biotech startup company, supported the CEO, James A. Spudich, in identifying and securing grants for funding.
Senior Faculty Administrator of Biochemistry at Stanford University in Stanford, California, from Aug 2018 until 19 Feb 2021.
Supported the department chair, first Suzanne R. Pfeffer and then Aaron F. Straight, and the department faculty of the Department of Biochemistry in the School of Medicine by conducting high-level administrative tasks and projects, including ones that the professors normally would do and that capitalized on my scientific background.
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University in Stanford, California, from May 2000 until 31 Dec 2006.
Conducted research and teaching in the area of biotechnology, specifically about Streptomyces bacteria.
Individually mentored a team of 10 doctoral students. Published scientific papers and wrote grant proposals.
Received a NSF CAREER Award and a NIH R01 grant.
Postdoctoral Scholar of Biochemistry at Stanford University in Stanford, California, from June 1997 until May 2000. Adviser: Patrick O. Brown.
Conducted research on the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by using DNA microarrays.
Received a Damon Runyon Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Scholarship.
VOLUNTEERING
Volunteer at Neff Elementary School in the Houston Independent School District in Houston, Texas, from 27 Nov 2023 until 23 May 2024. Coordinator: Veronica Alch.
Individually assisted fourth-graders recently arrived to the United States to learn English.
Volunteer at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital in Houston, Texas, from 29 Sep 2023 until 7 Jun 2024.
SKILLS
Professional, respectful, and compassionate
Team-oriented and supportive of colleagues
Observant, attentive, and discreet
Excellent at written and oral communication
Organized and able to multitask and to prioritize
Proficient with software tools and technology
REFERENCES
Chaitan Khosla
Gerald G. Fuller
Amy Chea
Aaron F. Straight
Veronica Alch
Cover Letter for Interviews
Camilla Mei-Fang Kao
XXXXXXXXXX
Houston, TX 77036-5524
April 22, 2025
Houston Independent School District
RE: Math Teacher
Dear Hiring Manager:
I am applying for the position of Math Teacher in the Houston Independent School District.
Currently I am enrolled in the Region 4 Inspire Texas Educator Preparation Program to become certified to teach math in grades 4-8. For this training, I am completing my clinical teaching requirement in the classroom of Amy Chea, a 5th grade math teacher at Neff Elementary School. I expect to receive my teaching certification by June 2025.
I make the classroom a safe place to do math, where students can be not afraid to get answers wrong. This fosters healthy competition among the students. During my lessons, students raise their hands eagerly to answer questions. While I walk around the room, they enthusiastically share their work with me. In front of their peers, they explain to me strategies of their own to solve problems. These positive classroom dynamics make my students perform well on assessments and more deeply understand math.
I am well-prepared to teach math to young students. My education through my doctoral studies included rigorous math. The in-depth knowledge that resulted enables me to explain concepts clearly and accurately, provide context for questions that is not superficial but instead deep, and challenge students who, excelling at math, would otherwise disengage from their learning.
For classroom management, I treat students as people who are capable of meeting expectations. A student not executing a math problem usually does not understand the problem; most students want to succeed at goals that they attempt. When I assist apparently underperforming students such that they can proceed independently with a problem, they say to me a respectful “Thank you”.
As a professor at Stanford University, I was a researcher. Having done discovery and innovation makes me know how to assume roles new to me for an employer, such as with gifted and talented programs and math clubs at a school. I need not be assigned only to predefined positions that do not change. My time at the university also showed me the need for more diversity in academia. Now I can address that need by working with students from all socioeconomic backgrounds during early stages of their education.
Teaching in public education will create for me an opportunity to give back to local communities what I learned from the experiences of my first career.
Thank you for considering my application. I hope to contribute to your school’s success.
Sincerely,
Camilla M. Kao
Prelude to Being a Math Teacher
Rice Architecture: Senior Executive Assistant
Camilla Mei-Fang Kao
XXXXXXXXXX
Houston, TX 77036-5524
July 13, 2024
Rice University
RE: Senior Executive Assistant at Rice Architecture (Job ID 3777)
Dear Hiring Manager:
I am applying for the position of Senior Executive Assistant in the Office of the Dean at Rice Architecture. A former high-level administrative staff member in the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University, I possess the intellectual capacity and the technical skills necessary to support the Dean well. My love for architecture would cause me to push our team towards success.
As Senior Faculty Administrator of Biochemistry at Stanford between 2018 and 2021, I sought to free up time for the department chair and for faculty members by doing for them high-level administrative tasks that they otherwise would have needed to do for themselves. I am a former faculty member myself, which makes me familiar with the demands that faculty members face. My work as an administrative staff member at Stanford was characterized by impeccable standards. I conducted faculty affairs, leading the administrative work for appointment and promotion packages for departmental faculty members. I was the administrative lead for a faculty search led by Professor Pehr Harbury, my duties going far beyond those typical of administrative assistants. During the pandemic, I participated administratively in a project led by Professor Rhiju Das to stabilize COVID-19 vaccines. Concurrently, I executed recurring tasks and projects in the department, such as organizing the annual departmental conference that was held offsite.
My goal as an administrative staff member of any team is to execute the work necessary to make the team function the best that it can. This work will include smaller but important tasks such as calendaring and communications, along with more complex efforts such as events and the administrative support of major projects. My work at Stanford described here allowed me to help a whole department operate. The same would be true for Rice Architecture as a school.
My background in science and early success with my doctoral research led to an assistant professorship of chemical engineering that I held at Stanford between 2000 and 2006. While it turned out not to be my calling, science began for me an involvement with academia that spanned more than three decades and included the roles of undergraduate student, doctoral student, postdoctoral student, faculty member, and staff member. Successfully comprehending how universities function makes me able to navigate the requirements of the job advertised.
My resumé lists three references. Aaron F. Straight, Department Chair of Biochemistry at Stanford, supervised me for much of the work recounted in this letter and would be able to describe my performance in his department. Chaitan Khosla was my PhD adviser in the chemical engineering department at Stanford and has followed my professional progress since 1992. Gerald G. Fuller was Department Chair when I was an assistant professor of chemical engineering at Stanford and also has known me since 1992, when my doctoral studies began.
Thank you for considering my application.
Sincerely,
Camilla M. Kao
