Meet the IOLA Team!

Megan Wawro


    Megan Wawro is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Her research interests are in undergraduate mathematics education. In particular, her research program includes investigating student thinking and instructional design in linear algebra, student understanding of mathematics in quantum physics, methodologies for documenting mathematical reasoning at individual and collective levels. She earned a PhD in Mathematics and Science Education from UC San Diego/San Diego State University, an M.A. in Mathematics from Miami University, and a B.A. in Mathematics from Cedarville University. Prior to her graduate work, she was a high school mathematics teacher in both Ohio and Switzerland.


Chris Rasmussen





    Chris Rasmussen is Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at San Diego State University. He received an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, a master's degree in mathematics, and his Ph.D. in mathematics education at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on the learning and teaching of undergraduate mathematics, with a focus on courses that serve as a transition from students' current ways of reasoning to more formal and abstract ways of reasoning.


Michelle Zandieh


    Michelle Zandieh is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University. She received undergraduate degrees in mathematics and geology at Northwestern University, a master's degree in mathematics, and a Ph.D. in mathematics at Oregon State University. Her research focuses on the learning and teaching of undergraduate mathematics, with a focus on student reasoning in courses such as calculus, linear algebra, geometry and transition to proof.


Christine Andrews-Larson





    Christine Andrews-Larson is an assistant professor of mathematics education at Florida State University. She recently completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in Vanderbilt University's Peabody School of Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning. In this capacity, she had the opportunity to assume a leadership role on a longitudinal project aimed understanding the institutional supports needed to improve middle school math instruction at scale. She earned her undergraduate and master's degrees in mathematics from the University of Kansas, and her Ph.D. in mathematics education and learning sciences from Indiana University. Her dissertation research focused on instructional design in introductory undergraduate linear algebra, exploring the ways in which student thinking, modeling, and history of mathematics serve to inform the development of inquiry oriented instructional materials in that content domain. Her current work explores teacher learning and institutional supports for effectively scaling up the implementation of inquiry oriented instruction.


David Plaxco


    David Plaxco is an assistant professor of mathematics at Clayton State University. David moved to Clayton State from the University of Oklahoma, where he was a postdoctoral researcher for two years. Before that he was a graduate student at the Virginia Tech Mathematics Department, where he earned a master's and doctorate focusing on mathematics education. David is interested in how undergraduate students develop notions of mathematical proof - specifically, the various roles that their understanding of the concepts about which they are proving informs their proof activity and argumentation in the classroom. He is also interested in helping preservice teachers (and anyone else interested in mathematics education) learn about how students think and learn to identify and adopt more effective ways to help students learn. Specifically, David likes to help teachers shift their perspectives to try and see their students' mathematical activity as the result of ways of thinking that make sense to the student and are consistent from their perspective. An important part of being able to do this is engaging students in meaningful activities that allow their ways thinking to emerge, so curriculum design is really important. David likes geometry, algebra (abstract, linear, you name it!), complex analysis, logic, puzzles, games, and game design.


Kathy Czeranko





    Kathy Czeranko earned her BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from George Mason University. She has a Secondary Education Teaching Certificate in Mathematics in the State of Arizona. Kathy is currently an instructor at Arizona State University.






Hayley Milbourne


    Hayley Milbourne is a doctoral student in Mathematics Education jointly at San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego. She received a B.S. in Scientific Computation from the University of California, San Diego and a M.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on the learning and teaching of undergraduate mathematics. Hayley works as a research assistant with Dr. Rasmussen on student thinking and instructional design in linear algebra, as well as student persistance in calculus.


Website Development Team





    The website development team is composed of three Virginia Tech Computer Science students who completed the website as part of their Senior portfolios. The team members are (pictured, left to right) Bill Lucy, Tommy Walton, and Ethan Francis.