The NM Project brings together researchers, employers, and technical and mathematics educators with exceptional credentials, NSF project management success, and a history of collaboration.
Dr. Marilyn Barger, mbarger@usf.edu, (site visit and interview coordinator) is executive director of the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center. She has been co-PI and PI on NSF ATE project and center grants since 2000, focusing on curriculum development and credential alignment for CC and HS manufacturing programs across the country. She has worked with manufacturers to help define their needs for soft skills integrated into workforce education and participated in research on student motivation to enter ATE programs. She will help validate the NM survey, conduct interviews, and assist in organizing industry site visits.
Rosemary Brester, Rosemary@hobartmachined.com,(research team member and industry liaison)is president and CEO of Hobart Machined Products in WA. CC interns work with her employees to learn how math is applied in the workplace. She has a deep understanding of the tools and math processes used by technicians. She has worked on many projects in WA including the Transition Math Project, Association of Washington Business Education Committee, and the Governor’s Committee on Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing. She will help organize industrial site visits, assist in validating the NM survey, and help coordinate the Governor’s Committee CWG in WA.
Dr. Sol Garfunkel, s.garfunkel@comap.com, (research team member and lead math consultant) is executive director of COMAP in MA. He has been PI/co-PI on 17 NSF projects since the 1970s including ATE projects supporting students in technical fields, such as DevMap (NSF #9950036) and TechMap (NSF # 9818961). His efforts on the WorkMap Project included site visits to 15 IT workplaces to document the math being used by graduates of two-year degree programs. NM will draw upon the protocols he used. He was the lead author on the NCEE report (see p. 2) on the math needed to succeed in associate degree programs. He will help establish site visit and interview protocols, serve as a math expert on industry site visits, validate survey items, help write journal articles, and participate as a member of the CWG in MA.
Dr. Bernard S. Gorman,bernard.gorman@ncc.edu, (co-PI and research lead) See Research Team, below.
Dr. Michael Hacker, michael.hacker@hofstra.edu, (PI) has co-directed the Hofstra CSR since 1999, and was the Needed Math Conference PI. During 57 years in education, he was a secondary school teacher and administrator, teacher educator, and NYSED Supervisor for Technology Education. His research interests are investigating the mathematics needed to be successful in the workplace, broadening participation in STEM, and design-based technology and engineering education curriculum reform. He will manage the NM Project workflow and liaise with the CWG coordinators.
Dr. Deborah Hecht, DHecht@gc.cuny.edu, (external evaluator) is director of CUNY/CASE. She has over 30 years of experience evaluating large-scale NSF and other STEM education projects including the Needed Math Conference. She will lead the evaluation team that will include CASE doctoral students.
Dr. Paul Horwitz, phorwitz@concord.org, (co-PI) is a senior scientist at the Concord Consortium in MA. A physicist by training, his expertise is in helping students use mental modeling to learn and apply scientific principles. He was co-PI on the Needed Math Conference Project. He will help coordinate the project, develop protocols, organize site visits, conduct interviews, and write journal articles and reports.
Lois Miceli, lois.m.miceli@hofstra.edu, (Needed Math project administrator) had provided administrative support to numerous NSF projects conducted by the Hofstra Center for STEM Research. She will liaise with various Hofstra offices (grants administration, Webworks, fiscal management) to ensure smooth project flow.
Professor Rodney Null, Null.R@rhodesstate.edu, (co-PI) is professor emeritus of mathematics at Rhodes State College. He has been a secondary/postsecondary mathematics educator for over 30 years, an active member of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges AMATYC since 1994, and a past president of the Ohio MATYC. He was the PI on the Mathematics Transitions in STEM Education project (DUE 1204849, 2012–2015) and was a program developer for numerous professional development (PD) initiatives to improve math instruction. He will help originate/review/validate survey scenarios, organize site visits, conduct interviews, serve as a research team math expert, write journal articles/reports, and coordinate the OH CWG.
Dr. Gerhard Salinger, evgersal@gmail.com, (co-PI) became an NSF program officer in 1989 in a program to fund instructional materials development for K-12 science and math. His interests have been in materials and PD that support students in developing sophisticated understandings of STEM concepts and practices. In 1992, he was asked to establish and co-lead the ATE program where he set policy, wrote program solicitations, and recommended funding of regional and national centers. He retired in May 2014. Prior to his work at NSF, he was a professor and chair of the Physics Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He will help coordinate the project, develop protocols and survey scenarios, organize site visits, conduct interviews, and write journal articles and reports.
Professor Gordon F. Snyder, Jr., gordonfsnyder@gmail.com, (research team member and AB chair) is professor of engineering at Holyoke CC in MA. He brings 32 years of diverse academic program and curriculum development, college teaching, administrative, and leadership experience working directly with colleges, students, faculty, administrators, and industrialists at the local, regional, and national levels. He was the executive director of the National ATE Center for Information and Communications Technologies at Springfield Technical CC in MA and the former associate director of the National Center for Optics and Photonics Education. He will attend industrial site visits, chair the AB, organize and manage the co-PI, and coordinate the MA CWG.
David Cassell, davidscassell@gmail.com, See Research Team, below.
Social Media
We will establish accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit (r/matheducation, r/education), and Twitter; social media management tools will be used to monitor metrics, streamline communication, and maximize dissemination.