Sculpted Minds is a boutique online studio for upper elementary to high school students. We offer tutoring, test preparation, and independent-study modules across a focused set of subjects. Drawing on 20,000 hours of teaching experience and the well-worn strategies of our practice, we work to close learning gaps and cultivate robust domain knowledge: that which a student can summon on demand, apply reliably and accurately, and use to make sense of new situations.

Summer 2009: a seventh grader would visit his friend Aditya to work through the Art of Problem Solving Geometry book. When a proof looked stubborn, they sought out Aditya's mother, Neela. A former schoolteacher, Neela soon found herself organizing geometry "races," challenging the boys to solve every problem in the book.

Observing the student's progress, his father suggested formalizing the arrangement. Soon the student brought his brother, who brought his friends. And Sculpted Minds was born.

The work begins with an initial sounding (a problem set, a written test, or an earnest, informal conversation) to take the measure of the foundation. From there, formal instruction proceeds, but assessments continue to be woven in. As the student engages with the material, the teacher keeps a quiet vigil, unearthing deeper gaps and repairing them without breaking the line of study. Whether a student arrives to untangle the week's coursework or to undertake a comprehensive independent study, we draw from a principled curriculum. And the strategies we employ—explicit instruction, retrieval practice, worked examples, interleaving, spacing, and precise formative feedback—rank among the most effective interventions documented in educational research (Hattie, 2009). Yet the true craft lies in the teacher's judgment: gauging the volume of new material, pacing the rhythm of repetition, and calibrating the weight of feedback to fit the student and the task at hand.

Neela
Ranganathan

Founder; Tutor—Mathematics, Admissions Essays, Writing Mechanics

Background: Ed.M. in Learning Design, Harvard Graduate School of Education; B.A. in Chemistry, University at Buffalo; Alumna, PROMYS for Teachers—’25 July

Teaching Experience: veteran homeschooler, former schoolteacher

  • Neela's sessions are built on attention. She reads a student over many weeks — what the student knows solidly, what is still half-formed, where confusion is hiding behind fluent-sounding answers — and teaches to that reading. Students who come to her for a semester often stay for years; some return long after they have moved on to other work, to think through problems together.

    Neela has spent more than 20,000 hours with K–12 students. After leaving classroom teaching to homeschool her child through high school, she was approached by former students who asked her to keep working with them. Since then she has mentored more than 150 students. Neela holds a Master's in Education from Harvard, where her coursework focused on learning design, interpersonal negotiation, and proof techniques; and an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University at Buffalo, where she graduated magna cum laude. She is an alumna of PROMYS for Teachers, the summer number-theory program for the cultivation of mathematical habits of mind.

Aditya
Ranganathan

Tutor—AP Sciences, College Physics, Calculus, Test Prep

Background: Ph.D. in Applied Physics, Harvard University; B.A. in Physics, UC Berkeley; Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley; CTO, Avix Medical

Teaching Experience: Course Head: Sense, Sensibility & Science (Berkeley)

  • Aditya’s teaching style is built on a methodical habit: he resists the rush toward a solution until the terms of the task are visible. He works with students to deconstruct the anatomy of a challenge—clarifying the specific ask, isolating essential data, and surfacing the assumptions quietly doing the work. By arresting the initial impulse to "solve," he helps students build a model on bedrock so that each subsequent step follows from something sturdier than instinct.

    Aditya’s commitment to this style of learning took shape early at UC Berkeley, where he served as the youngest course head for Sense, Sensibility & Science—the interdisciplinary course on reasoning and decision-making pioneered by Nobel laureate Saul Perlmutter. Aditya helped expand this curriculum to Harvard, UC Irvine, and the University of Chicago. He later taught courses on mathematical modeling and data science at Harvard. He earned his PhD in applied physics from Harvard University and his undergraduate degree in physics from UC Berkeley (highest distinction).

    Currently a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley building AI tools designed to enhance human reasoning, Aditya also serves as Chief Technology Officer at Avix Medical, Inc., a finalist in the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Global Startup Competition. At Avix, he leads the development of Catalina, a handheld device for real-time, non-invasive breast lesion characterization. In developing technology to improve early cancer detection and clinical decision-making, he practices the same insistence on modeling and judgment that he brings to his students at Sculpted Minds.

Natalie
Millan

Lead Illustrator: Translation of Academic Concepts into Visual Form

Background: Classical Studio Emphasis (Figure & Landscape); Narrative Architecture & Digital Media

Output: Comprehensive Design of the Sculpted Minds Identity; artwork for “The Definition” by Jon Bellion

  • Nat is a Southern California–based illustrator whose work is informed by long-term drawing practice and formal training in still life, landscape, and figure drawing. She is the author of the suite of illustrations throughout the site, highlighting a vision of education that is beautiful and beyond the banal.

    Nat conceptualized the Sculpted Minds environment in close collaboration with Neela. Together, they sought to create a digital space rooted in thoughtful design with a touch of whimsy, ensuring that the visual interface reflects the same order and coherence we demand in our students’ work. Beyond the digital studio, she continues to design and illustrate for Sculpted Minds’ future offerings, ensuring the tools we provide are as precise as they are distinctive.

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