Faculty and Student Research – Mathematics

Doctoral Student Publishes Third Time this Year

wiesea — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:58:28 +0000

This study highlights the pivotal role of questioning for eliciting different students’ forms of covariational reasoning in both mathematics education and interdisciplinary math and science education. Amanda and Nicole introduce an emerging framework of covariational reasoning orchestrations, which consist of two forms of synergies in their design: between artifacts (digital simulation, table, and graph), and between artifacts and questioning. This framework can help researchers and designers integrate the study of covariational reasoning into interdisciplinary STEM contexts.

We are so proud of you Amanda!

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!

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.

Congrats to our students for presenting at the 2025 IEEE ISIA Conference hosted at MSU

wiesea — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 15:34:37 +0000

Two �鶹��ý�� mathematics students, Preston Pietruszewski and Ryan Avallone, presented their original research at the , held on campus this October. Preston earned third place and a $250 award for his poster, Patterns in a Special Coloring of Pascal’s Triangle, advised by Dr. Aihua Li. Ryan presented his research, Mathematical Model of Vowels in Singing, advised by Dr. Bogdan Nita.

The IEEE workshop, hosted by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, highlighted innovative student and faculty research spanning mathematics, computer science, and engineering. Congratulations, Preston and Ryan!

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 receive internal grants

wiesea — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 20:31:48 +0000

Doctoral candidates Amy Daniel, Elise Lahiere, and Amanda Provost each recently received an internal grant award from �鶹��ý��’s Student-Led Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities (RSCA) program. This RSCA funding will support each candidate’s dissertation research, providing funding for supplies, participant support, research tools, and more. These are incredibly competitive awards that require a rigorous application process. The doctoral program is so proud of Amy, Elise, and Amanda for their hard work and perseverance in earning these funds. Congrats to the faculty mentors, too, for all their hard work in this process – Dr. Mika Munakata (Amy), Dr. Joseph DiNapoli (Elise), Dr. Nicole Panorkou (Amanda). The next step? Completing the dissertation! Check out the provided photos for a peek into these projects. Check out all of the RSCA recipients!

Samples from Awardees

Doctoral Student Presents at the United States Conference on Teaching Statistics

wiesea — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 14:46:59 +0000

Asja Alić, presented a poster with Dr. Nina Bailey, and facilitated a discussion at the . Her poster, Using Critical Statistical Literacy Habits of Mind in an Introductory Data Science and Statistics Course for STEM majors, was highly visited. She also co-facilitated a lunch discussion on community and belonging.

The Department is proud of you Asja!