Presentations – Mathematics

Doctoral Students and Faculty Present at RUME

wiesea — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:08:00 +0000

Five doctoral students and two faculty presented at the in Alexandria, VA.

From left: Emily Olson, Amy Daniel, and John O’Meara speak to audience members after their talk

Doctoral candidates John O’Meara and Amy Daniel, and doctoral student Emily Olson presented their work for the broader research team of doctoral student Toni Tork, John O’Meara, Amy Daniel, Emily Olson, Dr. Eileen Fernández, and Dr. Mika Munakata on Approaches to College Mathematics: Reimagining Remediation and Improving Student Outcomes in Precalculus. They drew a huge crowd that stayed long after their session to seek their advice on how to improve their own courses.

From left: Emily Olson, Amy Daniel, and John O’Meara

Doctoral students Asja Alić and Ariel Bonneau Rodriguez presented a poster with Dr. Greenstein: From the Polar to the Pole: The Enactive and Embodied Choreomathematics of the Polar Coordinate System (see feature image). It was a pivotal moment at RUME, as this poster attracted the masses. Attendees engaged with the tools, tasks, and embodied actions to conceptually explore polar graphing.

From left: Dr. Nina Bailey and Amy Daniel

Doctoral candidate, Amy Daniel, and Dr. Nina Bailey presented a brief report on Math anxiety data sources: Capturing individual differences through diverse lenses. Their work demonstrates that observations of student participation can supplement more conventional assessments to enable researchers to attend to the triggers and responses of students’ math anxiety.

Keep up the fabulous work Amy, Ariel, Asja, Emily, and John. We are so proud of you!

Doctoral students and faculty present at AMTE

wiesea — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 17:01:14 +0000

Doctoral Candidates, Amanda Provost and Helene Leonard, presented a session with Drs. Nicole Panorkou and Steven Greenstein on Responsive Professional Development for Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation: The Case of Balancing Acts. See feature image.

Doctoral candidate Amy Daniel presented a brief report with Dr. Nina Bailey: Learning About Preservice Teacher Math Anxiety: What Do Different Data Sources Offer Mathematics Teacher Educators? See below.

Doctoral student Asja Alić presented a poster with Dr. Nina Bailey and collaborator Dr. Karoline Smucker of Eastern Oregon University: Initiating Conversations to Integrate Critical Statistical Literacy Habits of Mind into Teacher Preparation Courses. See below.

Keep up the fabulous work Amanda, Amy, Asja, and Helene. We are so proud of you!

Second Annual Mathematics Education Panel Discussion

wiesea — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:02:53 +0000

Three members of our doctoral program recently joined Dr. DiNapoli’s Teaching Mathematics secondary math methods course for this year’s Mathematics Education Panel Discussion. The panelists – Christa Mawn, Gabriella Migliore, and Denis Cook – are experienced professionals in K-12 mathematics education who shared valuable insights about teaching, the job search process, supporting students, and finding balance in the profession. The students taking the math methods course led the conversation with thoughtful questions, making for a lively and inspiring exchange. Many thanks to our panelists for their time, expertise, and encouragement.

The photo captures our panelists together with several students from the class. Thank you, panelists, for your willingness to serve!

AIMTRU Research Group Presents at AMTE Fall Institute

wiesea — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 18:33:29 +0000

�鶹��ý��’s Analyzing Instruction in Mathematics Using the Teaching for Robust Understanding Framework (AIMTRU) research group recently presented a Lightning Talk at the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators Virtual Fall Institute. Lightning Talks are quick, 7-minute presentations given by different research groups, followed by a public roundtable discussion. It was a unique speaking experience, and the AIMTRU team did a great job. Present at the talk were doctoral students Helene Leonard, Amy Daniel, Denis Cook, and faculty Joseph DiNapoli. Congratulations all!

Doctoral Student presents at AMATYC

wiesea — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:52:24 +0000

John O’Meara, doctoral candidate in the PhD program in Mathematics Education, presented a talk with Dr. Mika Munakata at the in Reno, Nevada on November 13, 2025. Their talk, Bridging Gaps Between Two- and Four-Year Colleges: A Social Network Approach, shared research based on their work on the NSF-funded Noyce STEM-4-STEM program (Award #2150649) with Dr. Larkin, Department of Teaching and Learning.

�鶹��ý�� Doctoral Students Have Strong Showing at PME-NA 2025 Meeting

wiesea — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 16:56:05 +0000

The was held in State College, Pennsylvania. Amanda, Amy, Ariel, Emily, Michael, Toni, Youngjun all professionally exhibited their projects. Keep up the great work, we are so proud!

Doctoral candidate Amanda Provost presented a talk, An investigation of use of gender- and sex-related terminology in the PME-NA 2022 to 2024 Proceedings, with collaborators from her working group: Lynda West (University of Nevada Reno), Jennifer Hall (Monash University), Katrina Platek-Jimenez (Central Michigan University), C. Davis, and Katynn Dubeau (University of Saskatchewan). Amanda also co-led the working group: Gender and Sexuality Working Group: Investigating Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences With and Views of Concealable Stigmatized Identities.

From left: C. Davis, Katrina Platek-Jimenez, Lynda West, and Amanda Provost

Youngjun Kim

Doctoral candidate Younjun Kim presented a talk, Prospective Mathematics Teachers’ Connections Between Mathematics and Social Justice Standards, with alumnus Dr. Zareen Aga of James Madison University and Su San Lim.

Doctoral candidate Amy Daniel cofounded and co-led a working group, Math Anxiety: Laying Foundation for the Path Forward, with Josh Mannix (Ball State University) and Marjorie Darrah (West Virginia University). Amy also presented a poster, Comparing Data Sources for Assessing Math Anxiety: A Study of Two Preservice Elementary Teachers, with Dr. Nina Bailey.

Amy Daniel speaking with PME-NA attendees during her poster session

Doctoral candidate Toni York presented a talk, Supporting Learning with Mathematically Structured Games, with Dr. Eilleen Fernández. Toni also presented a poster, Perspectives on Enactive Design for Students’ Mathematical Knowing, with Dr. Steven Greenstein, and several colleagues across multiple institutions including Dr. Allison Gantt (The College of New Jersey), Jonathan Valero (Indiana University Bloomington), and Walt Stepnowski (The College of Staten Island).

From left: Toni York and Dr. Eileen Fernández

From left: Toni York, Steven Greenstein, Allison Gantt, Jonathan Valero, Walt Stepnowski

Doctoral students Emily Olson, Ariel Bonneau Rodriguez, and Michael Frimpong presented a talk, Situated and Enactive Perspectives on the Formative Potential of Agentive Games in Identity Re/formation, with Dr. Steven Greenstein.

From left: Dr. Steven Greenstein, Michael Frimpong, Ariel Bonneau Rodriguez, and Emily Olson

Dr. Joseph DiNapoli facilitated a mini conference within a conference. He led his working group to host a three day research colloquium. Dr. DiNapoli presented a talk on Examining Instructional Time and Perseverance Growth.

MSU team presents at MA-RUME

wiesea — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 14:10:23 +0000

Doctoral student Emily Olson and faculty Dr. Joseph DiNapoli recently presented their research at the . Their presentation was entitled Reframing as a Distinct Navigating Action for Perseverance in Proof. Their work explored the ways in which math majors engage in productive navigating actions at moments of impasse while writing number theory proofs. Great work, Emily!

Doctoral Students from Mathematics Education and Teacher Education and Teacher Development present at national conference

wiesea — Mon, 19 May 2025 14:30:42 +0000

The paper is entitled Mapping Their Terrain: Using Social Network Analysis to Support Feminist Teacher Leadership and Promote Educational Renewal at the in Denver, CO on April 23, 2025. Congrats John and Shanna!

Doctoral students present at MAA-NJ

wiesea — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:27:27 +0000

Doctoral students Emily Olson and John O’Meara recently presented their work at the annual meeting of the New Jersey chapter of the Mathematical Association of America. Their talk was titled “Understanding Factors that Influence Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Experience with Relevant Mathematical Modeling Tasks.” The talk was informed by their research projects in Dr. DiNapoli’s MATH 812 Research in Mathematical Modeling Education class last year. For their projects, both Emily and John enacted and studied pre-service teachers’ engagement with mathematical modeling activities: one activity investigated optimal bus routes on �鶹��ý��’s campus, the other activity explored successful pathways during gameplay of the classic arcade game PACMAN.

Emily Olson and John O’Meara after their MAA-NJ presentation

The pre-service teachers were students in Dr. DiNapoli’s MTHM 302 class and were experiencing authentic mathematical modeling for the first time. Their findings included that these pre-service teachers struggled to explicitly use mathematics in an open-ended, real-world scenario. Furthermore, these pre-service teachers needed ample support to move between the mathematical and real world, a crucial aspect of the mathematical modeling cycle. Still, with the skillful help of Emily and John, the pre-service teachers were able to make progress with these modeling activities and come to some realistic solutions. These findings, amongst others, have meaningful implications for teacher educators, specifically around the importance of using scaffolding pedagogies to support pre-service teachers’ exploration and creativity when encountering modeling problems, especially if they are new to mathematical modeling.

Doctoral student Michael Frimpong, alongside Dr. Steven Greenstein, facilitated a workshop at the same conference. They described their workshop as follows: “In this workshop, we engaged the audience in activities to demonstrate that our thinking is not confined to our brains. Rather, it’s both fully embodied and also extended through our interactions with material things. In a very real sense, making sense is that which we make of our senses. In terms of our teaching, these experiences also demonstrated that “mathy” objects can provide the experiential context for students’ meaningful learning of mathematics… at every level of mathematics.” Check out these pictures of workshop attendees thinking with some wonderful mathematical things.

Doctoral Students present at the Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) Conference 2025

wiesea — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 18:13:12 +0000

Youngjun Kim (left) and Dr. Zareen Gul Aga (right)

Doctoral Candidate Youngjun Kim presented a session on Equity-Based Mathematics Teaching Practices in Pre-Service Teachers’ Lesson Plans with colleague and MSU alumnus Dr. Zareen Gul Aga.

Doctoral candidate Amy Daniel presented with counseling doctoral student Evelyn Lopez. Their poster was titled: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Supporting Mathematically Underprepared First-Year STEM Students. The department is very proud of the interdisciplinary work these doctoral students engaged in to support undergraduate students at �鶹��ý��.

Doctoral students Elise Lahiere, Amanda Provost, Youngjun Kim, Andre Perkoski, and Geena Taite recently presented a poster at the annual Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) Conference. Their presentation was titled . Their work stems from their own mathematical modeling education working group, and this particular project concerned their engagement with Dr. DiNapoli’s MATH 470 Teaching Mathematics methods class. Interestingly, their presentation was part of a virtual poster session at RUME using the platform Gather.Town, where all attendees had avatars and could virtually traverse the poster session space and interact with any presenters using video conferencing.

Congrats, all!