{"id":18,"date":"2022-01-06T15:11:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T15:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/?page_id=18"},"modified":"2025-11-07T17:29:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T17:29:16","slug":"research-team","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/research-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vanderbilt University<\/h2>\n

\"Lani-bio-photo-150x150\"Ilana Horn<\/strong> is Wachtmeister Family Chair of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University Peabody College, Director of the Teacher Learning Lab, and Principal Investigator of Project TAU. Using sociolinguistics and interpretive methods, her work examines secondary mathematics teachers\u2019 learning in the contexts of their workplace. Her research aims to critique and improve teacher education, and, in turn, improve education for students and supports for teachers, particularly in urban schools. She has published her research in top journals including Journal of the Learning Sciences, American Educational Research Journal, Educational Psychologist, Journal for Teacher Education<\/em> and Journal for Research in Mathematics Education<\/em>, and she has published two books for teachers, Strength in Numbers<\/em> (2012, NCTM) and Motivated<\/em> (2017, Heinemann). Her most recent monograph, Teacher Learning of Ambitious and Equitable Mathematics Instruction<\/em> (co-authored with Brette Garner) reports the findings from Project SIGMa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Kate Chapman<\/strong> is a Research Scientist and Project Manager for Project TAU. After earning her PhD in Education from Vanderbilt with a focus on STEAM learning in formal and informal environments, she moved to Omaha to be a Program Manager for the startup phase of the Kiewit Luminarium\u2014an informal learning center devoted to Science and Art developed in collaboration with San Francisco\u2019s Exploratorium. Kate has taught students one-on-one and in classroom settings, but her real love is summer camps and museums, including teaching science, sailing, engineering, and woodworking at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle. She is currently focused on reporting TAU\u2019s student level data, resurrecting her dissertation work around middle school students building boats, and coaching Tee Ball.<\/p>\n

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Maria Maria Castillo<\/strong> is a\u00a0 Ph.D. student in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Vanderbilt University. Maria is interested in K-12 finance and examining how policies and interventions can improve mathematical learning outcomes and educational experiences for low-income students of color. Before graduate school, Maria served as an AmeriCorps member on the admission team at Breakthrough New York. She was then a graduate coordinator for the Women in STEM program at Harvard College. Maria has worked on several interdisciplinary research projects ranging from Latinx parental engagement, and linguistic and cultural diversity to a more recent project investigating how funding, particularly per-pupil expenditure, impacts the inequitable distribution of resources and its influence on differential access and enrollment in Advanced Placement mathematics courses.Maria earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in mathematics from Mount Holyoke College and her Ed.M. in Teacher Education from The Harvard Graduate School of Education.<\/p>\n

\"shuqin-li-photo\"<\/p>\n

Shuqin Li<\/strong> is a Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at Hunan Normal University. She joined TAU in the 2023 fall as a visiting doctoral student. She holds a BSc an MEd. Previously, she was a mathematics teacher at a middle school in rural China, which strengthened her commitment to supporting teacher development, especially among underrepresented teachers. Her research focuses on teacher emotion, teacher education, and evidence-based teaching. Her doctoral dissertation investigates the emotional labor of teachers, emphasizing the need to alleviate teachers\u2019 emotional stress and enhance well-being through supportive institutions and empowering teacher education practices. Additionally, her earlier work has provided high-quality evidence for technology-enhanced teaching practices. Her work has been published in the Review of Educational Research, Journal of Assisted Computer Learning, and Text and Performance Quarterly. She collaborates with the TAU team to explore the complexity of emotions in the teacher learning community.<\/p>\n

\"Karen\"Karen Underwood<\/strong> is a\u00a0third year Ph.D student at Vanderbilt University Peabody College and a research assistant on Project TAU. Prior to starting this doctoral program, Karen was an elementary school teacher, mentor and instructional coach in San Diego, California for 7 years. Broadly, Karen is interested in mathematics education, teacher learning and how ideology intersects with learning.\u00a0 In her free time, Karen loves to play tennis, read s and spend time with the people she loves!<\/p>\n

University of Denver<\/h2>\n

\"Brette\"Brette Garner<\/strong> is an associate professor of mathematics education at the University of Denver\u2019s Morgridge College of Education. She researches mathematics teacher learning, with a particular emphasis on how social and political contexts influence teachers\u2019 work. As a former middle-school mathematics teacher, Brette recognizes teacher learning as an important lever for improving educational experiences for students \u2014\u00a0especially those who are at risk of being denied access to high-quality mathematics.<\/p>\n

\"\"Kyle Nolting<\/strong> is a Ph.D. candidate with the University of Denver\u2019s Morgridge College of Education in the Curriculum and Instruction Program and a research assistant with Project TAU. His research interests include broad aspects of STEM education and critical theory and more narrowly, the intersection of queer theory and K-12 science education. Before starting his graduate program, Kyle worked as a secondary science teacher for the New York City Department of Education for seven years and currently works in Colorado\u2019s Douglas County School District as a STEM Coordinator. Kyle is excited to investigate ways in which classrooms can provide a more equitable space for teaching and thinking about new and imaginative ways to make curricula more supportive for teachers and their students.<\/p>\n

\"Williams\"Alyssa Williams<\/strong> is a Curriculum and Instruction doctoral student at the University of Denver and a TAU research assistant. Her research interests involve understanding and improving teacher training efforts across all levels of education but especially in relation to undergraduate math professors\u2019 pedagogical development. Alyssa previously taught middle school math. She enjoys baking, running, and spending time with her husband Ben and baby boy, Owen.<\/p>\n

Georgia State University<\/h2>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Ben Rydal Shapiro<\/strong> is an assistant professor in the Department of Learning Sciences. His research and design integrate approaches from the learning sciences, information visualization and computer science to study how people engage and learn in relation to the physical environment and to develop new types of learning environments and experiences that support computer and data science education. Current research projects include the design, development and evaluation of new technologies and learning environments that a) leverage learner\u2019s relationships to data to support learning, b) promote pathways to data literacy and engagement with civic data, c) support teaching technology ethics and specifically data ethics and d) advance teacher\u2019s reflective professional practice to interpret data about classroom interaction. Shapiro was previously a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute for Technology. He completed his Ph.D. in learning sciences as a member of the Space, Learning & Mobility Lab at Vanderbilt University\u2019s Peabody College of Education. To learn more about his work visit:\u00a0https:\/\/www.benrydal.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Sierra\"Sierra Gilliam<\/strong> is currently a Ph.D. student in the department of Learning Sciences at Georgia State University. Previously, she was a computer science teacher and founded the first drone technology program for Guilford County Public Schools in Greensboro, NC. She received her B.S. in Environmental Science and M.S. in Earth Science from North Carolina Central University.\u00a0 She reigns from our nation\u2019s capital Washington, DC and is extremely passionate about computer science and expanding access to computer science to youth and adults, particularly those living and working in historically underserved communities like the ones she grew up and has worked in. Her research interests are in computer science education with a particular focus on using Interaction Geography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to develop and study new teaching practices that support and broaden access to computer science learning and teaching. She hopes to teach, mentor, and continue to be a service to young intellectuals, guide them to delve deeper into complex computational learning strategies, and help them to find their voice and purpose.<\/p>\n

Harvey Mudd College<\/h2>\n

\"DarrylDarryl Yong<\/strong>\u00a0is the McGregor-Girand Chair in STEM Equity Innovation and Research and a Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and currently serves as its Core Curriculum Director and Associate Dean for Special projects. He was the Founding Director of the Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning and received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics at the University of Washington.\u00a0 His scholarly activities focus on the retention and professional development of secondary school mathematics teachers and improving undergraduate mathematics education. He is passionate about broadening participation in STEM and helping institutions build capacity for increasing diversity and inclusion. Darryl serves on the Steering Committee for Math for America Los Angeles and helps to design professional development for its Fellows. From 2007-2024, he was also an instructor for the Secondary School Teacher Program at IAS\/Park City Mathematics Institute.<\/p>\n

Additional Collaboration<\/h2>\n

\"89EC3E17-00E2-4BA5-9F69-10920B916AD4\"Dr. Lara Jasien<\/strong> is an educational researcher at CPM Educational Program with scholarly interests in mathematics learning and instruction, particularly in contexts that foster enjoyment in mathematical sense-making. Her work is grounded in collaborative relationships with designers inside and outside of school contexts. Outside of school, Jasien collaborates with learning environment designers to study families\u2019 mathematical play. Inside of school, Jasien collaborates with designers including curriculum writers, professional learning workshop specialists, coaches, and teachers to study instruction that supports student exploration and inquiry, which she sees as reflexively related to teachers\u2019 own intellectual thriving. Both inside and outside of school, she is particularly interested in studying designs that honor both adults\u2019 and children\u2019s intellectual dignity, and she posits that fostering aesthetically guided mathematical problem-posing is critical to such designs. She has published her research in top journals including the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and the Journal of the Learning Sciences.<\/p>\n

\"image\"Dr. Lizi Metts<\/strong> is a postdoctoral scholar at Idaho State University and former TAU research assistant. Her research interests broadly revolve around mathematics education, data and statistics literacy, issues of equity and social justice, and teacher learning. Prior to graduate school, she was a high school math teacher in Tennessee for eight years. Returning to graduate studies at Vanderbilt, she is interested in exploring teacher learning around ambitious and equitable pedagogies and the teaching and learning of statistics, modeling, and data science drawing on socio-cultural, situative, and critical perspectives.<\/p>\n

Alumni<\/h2>\n

Nadav Ehrenfeld <\/strong> is interested in questions of how to support math teachers\u2019 professional development in a way that focuses on their experiences, interests, concerns, and sensemaking, as well as how to support math students\u2019 learning in ways that are both humanizing and cognitively-ambitious. Theoretically, his work builds on sociocultural, ecological, and complexity theories of learning to explore these questions from teachers\u2019 and students\u2019 learning-ecology perspectives. Prior to completing his Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University, Nadav taught math in pre-college and college programs in Israel. He holds a BSc in Mathematics & Computer Science and an MSc in Mathematics, with a focus on math education, both from Ben Gurion University. His work on math teaching and teacher learning has been published in journals such as Educational Researcher<\/em>, Educational Studies in Mathematics, and International Journal of Educational Research.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"KSMKatherine Schneeberger McGugan<\/strong>\u00a0focuses on ongoing mathematics teacher learning with a focus on experienced teachers. Prior to her time at Vanderbilt, she worked as a middle school math teacher and mathematics coach in Massachusetts, roles that fostered a deep commitment to supporting teachers throughout their careers. Driven by sociocultural and situative perspectives, Her work is informed by education policy and sociology as she explores institutional logics of and teachers\u2019 ethical commitments to good teaching.<\/p>\n

\"Yeliz\" Yeliz G\u00fcnal-Agg\u00fcl <\/strong>joined the TAU team as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in 2022-2023. After completing the Fulbright program, she continued to be a part of the team as a doctoral student intern. Prior to embarking on her doctoral studies, Yeliz obtained a master’s degree in sociology and gained eight years of experience as a mathematics teacher. In her dissertation, she conducts a research-practice partnership project to support a group of mathematics teachers in building their professional learning community under a non-profit in Turkey. She examines how teachers achieve expansive and transformative forms of learning and enact agency in the community building process. Intersecting TAU and her research, she collaborates with the TAU team to investigate designing participatory teacher professional learning environments.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6358\"Christine Hood <\/strong>earned her Ph.D. at Morgridge College of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, specializing in math education, at DU. Her research interests involve preservice teachers’ math belief formation, rehumanizing math teacher education, and instructional design. Christine previously taught middle school math for three years. She loves to play volleyball, watch TV, climb, thrift, and snuggle her dog, Nakia. Most importantly, she has a lifelong obsession with The Chicago White Sox.<\/p>\n

Tara Crampton<\/strong> (she\/they) \"Tarafocuses on exploring how higher education professors that do not attend a teaching program learn how to teach. They also work full-time as an Academic Services Associate for the Counseling Psychology department at DU and they adjunct for the Accounting department at the Community College of Denver. Tara\u2019s hobbies include playing Dungeons and Dragons, playing Nintendo Switch games, and reading fantasy books.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vanderbilt University Ilana Horn is Wachtmeister Family Chair of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University Peabody College, Director of the Teacher Learning Lab, and Principal Investigator of Project TAU. Using sociolinguistics and interpretive methods, her work examines secondary mathematics teachers\u2019 learning in the contexts of their workplace. Her research aims to critique and improve teacher…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9380,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9380"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions\/240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/projecttau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}