Principal Investigators

Corey Webel, Ph.D.; Principal Investigator

Corey Webel, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, specializes in mathematics teaching at the elementary level, including teacher education and professional development. His research explores the individual and structural factors that support and inhibit improvements to mathematics teaching, include teachers' beliefs and knowledge, teachers' interactions with curriculum and other external resources, and the implicit norms and obligations embedded within the mathematics teaching role.

Barbara Reys, Ph.D.; Co-Principal Investigator

Dr. Barbara Reys, Distinguished Curators' Professor Emerita, served as Chair of the AMTE Task Force that developed Standards for Elementary Mathematics Specialists. She was also a member of the elementary and middle grades writing team for the revision of the Mathematics Education of Teachers published by the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences.

James Tarr, Ph.D.; Co-Principal Investigator

Dr. James E. Tarr, Professor of Mathematics Education, has served as Co-Principal Investigator of two large-scale longitudinal studies of curricular effectiveness, funded by NSF and U.S. Department of Education. He is co-author of a chapter on curriculum research in the recently published Compendium for Research in Mathematics Education.

Nianbo Dong, Ph.D.; Co-Principal Investigator

Dr. Nianbo Dong is an Associate Professor of Quantitative Methods at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. His areas of specialization and current interest include Statistical Power Analysis, Causal Inference, Design and Analysis of Randomized Experiments and Quasi-experiments, Multi-level Modeling/Longitudinal Data Analysis, and Policy and Program Evaluation.

Other Project Staff

Chris Engledowl, Ph.D.

Dr. Christopher Engledowl, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at New Mexico State University, joined the STEAM project as a GRA and continues to assist in data management and quantitative data analysis, especially as connected to teachers' interactions with curriculum resources.

Kimberly Conner, Ph.D.

Dr. Kimberly Conner, Assitant Professor of Mathetmaics Education at the University of Northern Iowa, was with the STEAM project for four years as a GRA. Kimberly's contributions include qualitative data collection and analysis for the case studies component of the project, as well as conducting classroom observations. Her research interests focus on investigating how students come to understand the generality and purpose of proofs.

Chris Austin

Chris Austin, Assitant Professor of Mathetmaics Education at the University of Southen Maine, worked on the STEAM project for four years as a GRA. Chris helped to develop the current version of the classroom observation protocol, managed aspects of the process for collecting data related to teaching practices, and assists with the analyses of various data related to STEAM. Chris is interested in studying elementary teachers' incorporation of opportunities for children to engage in mathematial justification.

Cris Sheffel

Cris Sheffel, 4th year doctoral candidate in mathematics education, was with the STEAM project for three years as a GRA. On the project, Cris has conducted teacher observations and was a member of the case study team, collecting and analyzing qualitative data from teacher interviews and classroom observations. She is a graduate of the Elementary Mathematics Specialist program, and is interested in how EMS share their expertise through leadership at the school level.

Sheunghyun Yeo; Graduate Research Assistant

Sheung-Hyun, 4th year doctoral candidate in mathematics education, has been with the STEAM project for three years as a GRA. The majority of Sheung-Hyun's workload has focused on classroom observations, quantitative analyses, and website maintenance. Sheung-Hyun is interested in studying how technology enhances children's' mathematical understanding.

Hyejin Shim; Graduate Research Assistant

Hyejin Shim is a 4rd year doctoral candidate in statistics, measurement, and evaluation in education (SMEE). Her academic interests are psychological and educational testing and measurement with specific emphasis on Item Response Theory (IRT), measurement with Cognitive Diagnosis Modeling (CMD), and Latent Variable Modeling. Her passion for psychological and educational measurement and evaluation is connected to accurately estimating examinees' ability to give them proper feedback with maximum reliability and minimum bias.

Wenmin Zhao; Graduate Research Assistant

Wenmin, 5th year doctoral candidate in mathematics education, has been with the STEAM project for one year as a GRA.

Phi Nguyen; Graduate Research Assistant

Phi, 2nd year doctoral student in mathematics education, has been with the STEAM project for one year as a GRA.