I am at Quest because I care about teaching people. Mathematical thinking, pure mathematics and mathematics education are my primary professional interests.  As an educator I see the power of interdisciplinary education to situate knowledge in space and time and so I draw from philosophy and history, the science and psychology of learning, and inquiry-based pedagogies to teach mathematics. Students who are curious and insightful inspire me to learn more, and it is especially rewarding to see wonder in the eyes of people who thought they disliked mathematics.

I earned my PhD (2015) in Mathematics (thesis in undergraduate mathematics education) from Queen’s University, MA (2007) in mathematics in from San Francisco State University and a BA (2002) in mathematics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.  I designed a Quest Foundation block, Mathematics Through Interesting Problems, based on mathematical thinking, creativity, and communication.  My research interests now are mathematics in a liberal education, the geometry of paper folding, discrete mathematics, especially combinatorics, and the history of mathematics.  I have been involved in work in numeracy, including two research projects and a Numeracy Week in a K-8 elementary school.  I spend a good deal of time contributing to the local community by running Professional Development for teachers and Family Math Nights.

In addition to my mathematical work, I have: been raising two young children, helped to run a small business, run a community garden, sta on the board of a community meeting house and the parent council at my children’s school, and done some quilting.