Heather Bosman
Email: bosmanhe@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2009
Research interests: Professional development materials for mentoring student/intern teachers as well as for discourse in the classroom.
Aaron Brakoniecki
Email: brakoni1@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2006
Research interests: Instruction of geometry within mathematics, teaching of college professors/teacher preparation, and technology and learning.
Jillian Cavanna
Email: cavannaj@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2011
Research interests: Teacher education and development, improving student motivation and providing contexts for mathematics. She is interested in collaborating with secondary teachers in action research.
Dan Clark
Email: clarkd40@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2008
Research interests: Perceptions of implementation of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics at various levels of the education system.
Jeffrey Craig
Email: craigjef@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2012
Research interests: Undergraduate mathematics education and the mathematical preparation of elementary and secondary teachers.
Richard “Abe” Edwards
Email: edwar491@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2012
Research interests: Collegiate mathematics education, the connection between student learning and participation in an academic community, and the connections between mathematics and other disciplines.
Nicholas Gilbertson
Email: gilbe197@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2009
Research interests: With a background of teaching middle school and high school mathematics, his current research interests involve professional development of in-service teachers and education of pre-service teachers, as well as the mathematical and societal issues around Algebra —from cognitive development to federal policy.
Funda Gonulates
Email: gonulate@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2008
Research interests: Students’ thinking and reasoning skills – specifically how much geometric reasoning they are using in algebra and how much algebraic reasoning they are using in geometry. She is also interested in teacher preparation curriculum, and in working with pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers.
Lynette Guzman
Email: guzmanly@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2012
Research interests: Preparation of prospective elementary teachers and professional development of in-service elementary teachers.
Frances Harper
Email: harperfr@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2012
Research interests: The relationship between instruction and mathematics learning, how and why teachers effectively choose and implement instruction most suited to promoting proficiency, which includes the relationship between teacher education and the implementation of instruction.
Jia He
Email: hejia1@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2008
Research interests: Proof and reasoning in mathematics education, the international and comparative study of Chinese and American students in mathematics education, and quantitative methodology.
Sihua (Adrienne) Hu
Email: husihua@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2010
Research interests: algebra teaching and learning at secondary level, especially on how teachers utilize the context of algebra word problems in the instruction and how students make sense of the algebra ideas embedded in the context in small group interaction. I am also interested in pre-service teachers’ knowledge in school statistics and teaching statistics.
Eun Mi (Amy) Kim
Email: kimeun23@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2010
Research interests: Spatial visualization, geometry education at the middle and high school level, and learning difficulties within mathematics curriculum.
Darlene Kohrman
Email: kohrmand@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2008
Research interests: Issues that contribute to achieving geometric understanding and reasoning in pre-service elementary teachers, such as concept images and concept definitions. Also, understanding how students learn mathematical concepts and how educators assess that understanding. Darlene is a part-time student here, and continues to teach full-time at the community college level.
Kevin Lawrence
Email: kevlawr@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2011
Research interests: How using technology in the classroom addresses procedural and conceptual knowledge of mathematical concepts in algebra courses and higher level mathematics courses. Kevin is also interested in how students transition from their K-12 mathematics experience to their undergraduate mathematics experience, as well as secondary mathematics teacher preparation.
Jerilynn Lepak
Email: lepakjer@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2008
Research interests: Student thinking and learning, as well as the mathematical content elementary teachers need for teaching, and in particular, to feel and portray confidence in the classroom.
Michael Morissette
Email: morisse3@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2012
Research interests: Student motivation, educational policy and collaborations with in-service secondary mathematics teachers.
Aaron Mosier
Email: mosieraa@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2006
Research interests: The formulation of mathematics education policy at the local, state, and federal levels, and to research the influences of various elements in mathematics assessment items.
Jennifer Nimtz
Email: nimtzjen@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2010
Research interests: Examining areas of mathematics that have been historically challenging for students to learn and teachers to teach, with an emphasis on algebra. She also is interested in exploring the intersection of educational psychology theories and how mathematics is used in the workforce with the articulation and content of mathematics education standards.
Joanne Philhower
Email: philhowe@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2011
Research interests: I am interested in teachers’ classroom practices in terms of assessments. I am curious how teachers use assessments to understand their students’ thinking and how they provide feedback to students based on these interactions. This could involve formative assessment or using the results of high-stakes tests to improve student learning. I am also interested in how students think about and solve algebra-related items, as well as how assessments influence their learning experience. This is not limited to students’ thinking, but could also include students’ attitudes about mathematics and assessments.
Visala “Rani” Satyam
Email: satyamvi@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2012
Research interests: How students learn mathematics, and the development of mathematics curriculum materials.
Eryn Stehr
Email: stehrery@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2011
Research interests: Learning more about the process of learning as well as learning styles, and how to create more effective teaching strategies, especially for adult learners. Eryn is also interested in studying the effectiveness of technological tools as classroom and outside study aids, learning in which settings and for which general topics technology is appropriate and helpful versus those settings and topics when it hinders the learning process, and finding ways to use these tools to help students overcome their math anxieties.
Alexandria Theakston Musselman
Email: theakst1@msu.edu
Website: http://www.math.msu.edu/~theakst1
Began: Fall 2009, after earning a master’s degree in mathematics from MSU.
Research interests: (1) understanding the purpose(s) of school mathematics (in particular, teaching mathematics in a way that promotes democratic equality), (2) exploring how to promote equitable access for all groups to meaningful mathematics, and (3) gaining insight into students’ mathematical identities and experiences at the secondary and undergraduate levels, especially for those enrolled in remedial mathematics courses. She served as an instructor in the Math Department for 9 semesters, worked on the STEM project for 6 semesters, and is currently working as a research assistant on the MDISC project and serving as a field instructor. Alex is also currently serving as an MLRG organizer.
Jamie Wernet
Email: wernet@msu.edu
Began: Fall 2009
Research interests: Teachers’ use of meaningful connections between real-life applications and the mathematics curriculum as it relates to equity and identity; the teaching and learning of algebra, as well as research and policy surrounding K-12 algebra. Jamie was a high school mathematics teacher and department chair before entering the program.
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