Culturally Relevant Integration CS Mathematics

Dr. Brian R. Lawler is the Interim Director of CiSTEMer and Professor of Mathematics Education at Kennesaw State University. His scholarship focuses on equity issues in mathematics education; in particular, the ways in which power and knowledge intertwine to govern the learner's mathematical identity. His core research examines the personal epistemologies of adolescent mathematicians: Do high school maths students see themselves as mathematical authors? This interest leads him to seek to understand the ways that students make sense of the school, classroom, and teacher contexts, and how these knowings interact with their mathematical identities.

Dr. Alan Shaw is the BSCS Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of Computer Science & Information Systems in the College of Computing and Software Engineering at Kennesaw State University.

Mr. Bill Crombie is the Director of Professional Development for The Algebra Project, Inc. Since 1990 Bill has been involved in the development and delivery of professional development for teachers and the professional development of professional developers within the Algebra Project’s national network. In collaboration with Bob Moses, the founder of the Algebra Project, Bill has worked on the development of the Transition Curriculum, short curriculum modules, and the African Drum and Ratios Curriculum. He is also the principal author of the Train-the-Trainer’s Transition Curriculum Practice Units and Lecture Notes and the principal developer of the Accessible Calculus Curriculum.

Zuhal Yilmaz, Ph.D., is a program evaluation lead in Gordon A. Cain Center for STEM Literacy at the Louisiana State University. She has been actively researching and teaching in mathematics education field for over 12 years with a strong emphasis on students' acquisition of mathematical ideas, supporting teachers' professional growth, and promoting diversity and inclusion, and equity. In her recent work, she focuses on exploring the connection between CS and mathematics learning, and integration of CS in mathematics classrooms in a culturally meaningful way. 

Dr. Fernando Alegre is associate director of the Gordon A. Cain Center at LSU. He received his M.S. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has experience working in research-oriented projects and implementing scientific software in fields such as image and signal processing, statistics, Monte Carlo methods, machine learning, Bayesian inference, probabilistic graphical models, compiler writing, automatic program analysis and abstract interpretation.

Dr. Terrie Galanti is an Assistant Professor of Secondary Mathematics and STEM Integration/Computational Thinking, Teaching, Learning & Curriculum at the University of North Florida. Dr. Galanti was the first woman in history to graduate at the top of her class from the United States Air Force Academy.  She synthesizes her thirty years of experience as an engineer, parent, and K-12 mathematics educator in her qualitative and quantitative research on STEM education and conceptual readiness for STEM fields of study. Her research interests converge on mathematics education as a sense-making endeavor and its connections to computational thinking in K-12 curriculum and classrooms.

Dr. Ron Eglash is a Professor of Information in the School of Information and a Professor of Art and Design in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. With more than $7 million in NSF funding, his suite of simulations, Culturally Situated Design Tools (CSDTs), have been used in U.S. schools from Alaska to Florida, as well as international locations, to allow students to learn math and computing through “heritage algorithms” that include Navajo weaving patterns, Latino percussion ratios, cornrow braid iterations and the nonlinear curves of urban graffiti.

Mr. Bill Crombie is the Director of Professional Development for The Algebra Project, Inc. Since 1990 Bill has been involved in the development and delivery of professional development for teachers and the professional development of professional developers within the Algebra Project’s national network. In collaboration with Bob Moses, the founder of the Algebra Project, Bill has worked on the development of the Transition Curriculum, short curriculum modules, and the African Drum and Ratios Curriculum. He is also the principal author of the Train-the-Trainer’s Transition Curriculum Practice Units and Lecture Notes and the principal developer of the Accessible Calculus Curriculum.

Dr. Alan Shaw is the BSCS Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of Computer Science & Information Systems in the College of Computing and Software Engineering at Kennesaw State University.

Mr. Cliff Freeman is the Director of STEM Programs at the Young People’s Project and a Ph.D student at Boston University, studying Mathematics and Science Education. Cliff is particularly interested in innovative and equitable approaches that broaden participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and careers for populations of youth who have been historically underrepresented.