Mathematical Behavior
Alice S. Alston is currently a part-time faculty member of the Department of Learning and Teaching of the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University and a Research Associate at the Robert B. Davis Institute for Learning. Earlier professional experiences include teaching in both public and independent middle and secondary schools, and chairing a middle school mathematics department, before assuming a central staff role in both professional development and research projects of the Rutgers University Center for Mathematics, Science and Computer Education and the Robert B. Davis Institute of Learning from its inception. Subsequently, as a full-time faculty member, Dr. Alston regularly taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in mathematics education at the GSE as a Visiting Associate Professor in Mathematics Education and continues to actively advise graduate students in their research endeavors.
With a background in mathematics and experience teaching in middle and high school, her particular expertise in professional development is for teachers of grades 5 through 12 using a modified Lesson Study approach that is classroom-based and focuses on teachers' deepening knowledge of the mathematics they are responsible for teaching and their ability to recognize and encourage their students mathematical reasoning. She has served as consultant for the Davis Institute in university-school partnership activities for professional development facilitating this model in a number of urban school districts in New Jersey.
Recent research interests include fine-grained studies of children's mathematical reasoning, the implications of students affect on their mathematical behavior and analyses of teachers' attention to their students' mathematical reasoning within Lesson Study activities.
Sarah Burke Berenson, a former Professor of Mathematics Education at North Carolina State University, was the Director of the Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education. There, she received the highest faculty award, The Holladay Medal of Excellence. The Governor appointed Professor Berenson to the National Working Group to create national standards in Mathematics and English Education in collaboration with the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. These National Standards provided the framework for the NC Common Core Curriculum. Since then, her research focuses on students’ critical thinking and problem solving. She is the Yopp Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Victoria Krupnik is a research consultant for RBDIL. Her research focuses on the development of mathematical reasoning in children. She is also a math coach for K-8 and teaches part-time with the Math Department at Rutgers University.
Judith H. Landis is a Research Associate at the Robert B. Davis Institute for Learning at Rutgers University, and a part-time faculty member of the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. Her expertise is in mathematics education, with special attention to improving teaching and learning. Her extensive experience includes teaching mathematics at elementary, middle, high school, and university levels; teaching teachers in pre- and inservice environments, supervisor of mathematics, school principal, and assistant superintendent of schools.
Dr. Landis currently works with teachers in several New Jersey school districts, as a component of two NSF funded research projects. The work with teachers makes use of a major video collection of children learning mathematics that is currently being prepared for storage at the Rutgers Repository. The professional development work involves helping teachers to build mathematics instruction that elicits students' reasoning and justification of solutions to problems.
Dr. Suzanna Schmeelk is an Associate Professor of Cybersecurity and Director of St. John's University M.S. in Cyber and Information Security. She comes to St. John’s University with over fifteen years of technical information security industry experience at organizations including The City of New York, Bell Laboratories, Yahoo!, eBay, Sloan Kettering, Battelle, New York Presbyterian and Paradyne.
Dr. Schmeelk’s research interests lie in Cybersecurity, Computational Thinking, Mathematics Education, Mobile/Health Technology Security, special topics in Cybersecurity, Machine Learning, Cybersecurity Risk Management and Social Justice. A list of her publications can be found on Google Scholar. Faculty Website
Maria Steffero is the Supervisor of Mathematics and Science at Colts Neck High School in the Freehold Regional High School District. She has written and presented on standards-aligned instruction, integration of science in the secondary math classroom, and cross-curricular integration of history and math for the Association for Mathematics Teachers of NJ. She has also presented at the national level at ISTE and ASCD on technology tools and assessment to support multilingual learners in math and science. Her research at the Graduate School of Education of Rutgers University explored and supported the construction of conceptual knowledge in collaborative learning environments where personally relevant problems were shared, questioned, and argued. She holds a B.A. In Mathematics and English, a M.Ed. in Mathematics Education and an Ed.D. in Mathematics Education, all from Rutgers University. Website
Elizabeth B. Uptegrove is a Professor Emerita of Mathematics at Felician University in Lodi, NJ. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and she is a long-time member of the Mathematics Association of America, having served on the board of the NJ section in many capacities and currently serving as secretary. From 2009 to 2022, she served as associate editor and special issues editor of The Journal of Mathematical Behavior. Her research interests include the training of mathematics educators and developmental education. Dr. Uptegrove received a B.A. in Mathematics (with honors) from Douglass College, an M.S. in Mathematics from New York University, and an Ed.D. in Mathematics Education from Rutgers University Graduate School of Education.
Louise C. Wilkinson is a Distinguished Professor of Education, Psychology, and Communication Sciences at Syracuse University. Professor Wilkinson has focused her research and scholarship on language and literacy learning among school-age children, both within and outside of schools. An internationally recognized leader in education, Professor Wilkinson is best known for her extensive research on children's language and literacy learning and mathematical literacy, published in more than 140 peer-reviewed research journal articles, volumes and book chapters. Professor has served Dean of the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University, and Dean of the Syracuse University School of Education.Professor Wilkinson holds a B. A. in Psychology, Magna Cum Laude with Honors from Oberlin College; and both the Ed. M. and Ed. D. (Human Development) from Harvard University. Faculty Website