:: Doctoral Students  

Eden Badertscher
Eden’s research focuses on the development of middle school mathematics teachers who are facing increasing content and accountability demands. Her research investigates teacher change through inquiry in mathematics and the philosophy of mathematics. She is working on a case study of primarily elementary certified teachers working toward their master’s degrees in middle school mathematics, which has been designed to explore and describe the development of teachers’ mathematical dispositions, as well as the power and meaning teachers attribute to their inquiry experiences.

Grace Benigno
Grace’s research centers around equity in mathematics education. Specifically, she is interested in examining young children's mathematical experiences and thinking as situated in their sociocultural context.

Geoffrey D. Birky
Geoffrey’s research interest is in investigating what the U.S. can learn from other countries (specifically through TIMSS) about engaging students in more sophisticated mathematical thinking.

Kristy Blocklin
Kristy is a third year PhD student in Mathematics EDCI. Her interests are in developmental mathematics education and what teachers can do for students in order to help their academic achievement in mathematics as well as in their other college courses.

Kathy Clark
In her dissertation research, Kathy is investigating how background variables and professional development experiences with the history of mathematics combine to influence teachers’ personal mathematical knowledge and instructional practice. She is also interested in mathematical discourse and the use of technology in secondary classrooms.

Roni Ellington

Tim Fukawa-Connelly
Tim is interested in understanding what happens with advanced undergraduate students. He looks at the connection between their classroom experiences, their mathematical proficiencies, and their mathematical proclivities. He also probes their understanding of what it means to do mathematical research.

Christy Danko Graybeal
Christy is involved in research on the Foundations of Mathematics course for doctoral students in mathematics education, case studies of Algebra teachers in urban settings, and a master’s degree program for middle school mathematics teachers who are certified in elementary education. She is particularly interested in the teaching and learning of mathematics in middle schools.

Rick Hollenbeck

Kadian Howell

Steven R. Jones
Steven is interested in researching college level mathematical thinking, including misconceptions.

Mike Lueke
Mike is interested in aspects of preservice education that foster teachers' mathematical knowledge. In particular, he is learning about new ways to construct mathematics content courses for prospective elementary school teachers to prepare them to recognize and use mathematical insights from their students and their teaching.

Robin Marcus

Alycia Marshall
Alycia’s research focus is on the success of African American students in college-level mathematics courses. She is specifically interested in learning and instructional strategies that may be factors attributable to their success.

Wanda McCoy

Carolina Napp Avelli
Carolina’s current interest is in how to use research-based theory to improve mathematics in schools under the real life constraints teachers face every day, such as high stakes testing and school district guidelines,

Anne Marie Marshall

Farhaana Nyamekye
Farhaana is interested in the mathematical achievement of young African American students and the achievement gap crisis. She would like to explore the psychological factors that may or may not affect achievement in this domain. Issues of equity, diversity, and social justice are of secondary interest.

Amber Rust
Amber is a first-year doctoral student and a teacher of mathematics at the College of Southern Maryland. She is interested in issues related to returning adult students and in teacher subject matter knowledge (especially probability and statistics) for the secondary level and higher.

Toni Smith
Toni's research interests are in statistics education. Specifically she is interested in studying introductory statistics students‚ understanding of statistical hypothesis testing.

Ming Tomayko
Ming is interested in studying the working conditions of mathematics teachers to better understand the issues and to address problematic tensions. These tensions may be the result of systemic constraints, external factors, assessment, accountability, curriculum, instruction, and non-academic responsibilities.

Kara Karch Trenkamp
Kara’s research interests include professional development at the middle school level and organizational reform. Currently she is looking closely at the relationship between Baldrige in Education, an organizational reform initiative, and middle school students' mathematics achievement.