Meet the Authors

Rachel Levy
Editor

Rachel Levy is a Professor of Mathematics and Associate Dean for Faculty Development at Harvey Mudd College. She serves as Vice President for Education for the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). She is a co-author of the textbook Partial Differential Equations: An Introduction to Theory and Applications (Princeton, 2015). She has served as a lead writer for national reports on applied mathematics programs and industrial internships in mathematics as well as the GAIMME report (Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Mathematical Modeling Education). She is a recipient of the MAA Alder Award for teaching.

Lew Ludwig 
Editor


Lew Ludwig is a professor of mathematics at Denison University, where he has taught since 2002 and is currently chair. He earned his PhD in point-set topology from Ohio University. He conducts mathematical research in knot theory and often involves undergraduates in this work. He is the creator of the website Technically Speaking, which helps develop the oral communication skills of undergraduate mathematics and STEM students. Ludwig is co-PI on an NSF EAGER grant to develop an Instructional Practices guide for the MAA.




Jessica M. Deshler 
Contributing Editor

Jessica Deshler is an associate professor in the West Virginia University Department of Mathematics where she is also the graduate teaching assistant coordinator, and a faculty associate for the WVU Center for Women’s and Gender Studies. Her research interests are in the area of undergraduate mathematics education, specifically focusing on issues of gender and mathematics, professional development of graduate students, and developmental mathematics students. She was a 2015-2016 US Fulbright Scholar at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary and is a co-investigator on several NSF-funded projects to enhance the preparation for teaching of mathematics graduate students across the United States, model undergraduate STEM retention and examine personalities and anxiety in STEM-intending developmental mathematics students.




Previous Members of the Editorial Board

Dana C. Ernst

Dana Ernst is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Northern Arizona University. He earned his PhD in mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2008. His primary research interests are in the interplay between combinatorics and algebraic structures. Dana's interests also include the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). In particular, he is passionate about inquiry-based learning (IBL) as an approach to teaching/exploring mathematics. Dana is currently a Special Projects Coordinator for the Academy of Inquiry-Based Learning and a mentor for several new IBL practitioners. Moreover, he actively gives talks and organizes workshops on the benefits of IBL as well as the nuts and bolts of how to implement this approach in the mathematics classroom. Dana is also an avid cyclist and rock climber and enjoys drinking copious amounts of coffee.

Rejoice Mudzimiri

Rejoice Mudzimiri is an assistant professor of mathematics education at the University of Washington Bothell. She received her PhD in 2012 from Montana State University. Her primary research interests are in the use of technology in K-16 mathematics classrooms, pre-service STEM teacher education, and K-12 mathematics coaching. Dr. Mudzimiri has extensive experience teaching high school, undergraduate mathematics, and graduate mathematics education courses. Currently, she is actively involved in two research projects. The first project focuses on making STEM majors more accessible to students through reforming the mathematics curriculum in the courses below Calculus, and using ambitious research-based strategies such as active learning, group work, project based learning and metacognitive strategies. The second project focuses on integrating technology in mathematics instruction to improve the achievement of English Language Learners (ELL) in a local high school geometry class.

Julie Phelps


Julie Phelps has served as a mathematics faculty member, developmental mathematics coordinator, and the project director of Achieving the Dream at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, since 1997. Julie earned a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction specializing in Community College in 2005 from the University of Central Florida. Her current research focus is on student engagement, learning, retention, self-efficacy, growth mindset, utility-value leading to the success of developmental and front door mathematics students. Her experiences with these types of learning evidence are being utilized in such roles as consulting for the Achieving the Dream Initiative, the Developmental Education Initiative, as well as the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE). Additionally, Dr. Phelps has served in the appointed role as Communication Liaison for American Mathematics Association for Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) connection to developmental mathematics pathways redesign. She has been the recipient of multiple teaching and leadership awards including the Raymer F. Maguire Jr. Teaching Endowed Chair and the Virginia B. Smith Innovation in Higher Education Leadership Award.