Mr. Shieh started playing the violin when he was three years old, decided he was going to be a theoretical physicist when he was 13, and decided to teach music instead when he turned 16. He has no regrets about his failure as a theoretical physicist, and in fact is quite pleased about it.

As a teacher, Mr. Shieh has previously founded music programs in prisons in Detroit and St. Louis, directed an outdoor leadership program on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan, taught orchestra in St. Louis, and taught English and Music to college students in China. He is proud to be one of the founding team members of MELS, and the founder of its Music program. Prior to joining the MELS founding team he was a policy strategist for the New York City Department of Education.

Apart from teaching, there is nothing Mr. Shieh would rather do than make music, and in the past decade he has played with classical orchestras, jazz combos, rock bands, folk singers, drum circles, and even one heavy metal group. Mr. Shieh currently performs with the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, which just released its first studio album in 2020! 

Mr. Shieh holds an Ed.D. in Interdisciplinary Policy Studies, as well as degrees in Curriculum Policy, Music Education, and English from Teachers College, Columbia University and the University of Michigan. For reasons unknown to himself, he has a slight and unhealthy obsession with llamas.

(Mr. Shieh's complete CV can be found here)