Researcher Bios

Project Director

Susan Davis Lenski is a professor at Portland State University in Oregon where she coordinates the literacy program and teachers graduate courses in literacy. Before joining the faculty at PSU, Dr. Lenski taught in public schools for 20 years. Dr. Lenski has been recognized by several organizations for her commitment to education. Among her numerous awards, Dr. Lenski was presented with the Nila Banton Smith Award from the International Reading Association; she was instrumental in her school receiving an Exemplary Reading program Award from the International Reading Association; and she was inducted into the Illinois Reading Hall of Fame. She is currently on the International Reading Association Board of Directors (2004-2007). Dr. Lenski's research interests focus on strategic reading and writing and adolescent literacy. Dr. Lenski has published over 60 articles and 12 books.

Researchers

Micki M. Caskey is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Portland State University. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of South Florida. Dr. Caskey draws on more than 20 years of teaching in both middle and high schools in inner city schools. Her areas of specialization include content area literacy, learning strategies and content enhancements, middle grades education, teacher education and teacher research. She is chair of the American Educational Research Association's (AERA) Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group, chair of the National Middle School Association's (NMSA) Research Advisory Board, editor of Research in Middle Level Education Online, higher education representative to the Oregon Middle Level Association, and board member of the Portland Reading Council. Her publications include The Young Adolescent and the Middle School, Reading and Learning Strategies: Middle Grades through High School, Making a Difference: Action Research in Middle Level Education, book chapters, curriculum, and numerous journal articles.

Brian Greer works in mathematics education. He gained a B.A. in Mathematics at Cambridge, followed by a Diploma in Education, MSc in Developmental and Educational Psychology, and PhD in Psychology, all at Queen's University, Belfast. He was on the faculty in the School of Psychology in Belfast 1969-2000, attaining the position of reader (roughly equivalent to full professor). From 2000-2003, he was a full professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at San Diego State University. In 2004, he worked for the Center for Learning and Teaching West, under a supplementary grant from the National Science Foundation. Since then he has been an independent scholar and adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Education at Portland State University. In 2005 and 2007 he had 4-month Senior Visiting Fellowships at the University of Leuven, Belgium. His co-authored books include Analysis of Structural Learning (Academic Press, 1983), Making Sense of Word Problems (Swets & Zeitlinger, 2000), Making Sense of Data and Statistics in Psychology (Palgrave, 2002) and edited or co-edited books include New Directions in Mathematics Education (Routledge, 1987), Theories of Mathematical Learning (Erlbaum, 1996), and Statistical Thinking and Learning (Erlbaum, 2000). He has edited or co-edited special issues for The Journal of Structural Learning, Journal of Mathematical Behavior, The International Journal of Educational Research, and Mathematical Learning and Thinking. He has authored or co-authored chapters in five major handbooks, including the first and second Handbooks of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) and the Handbook of Educational Psychology (American Psychological Association). He has served on the editorial boards of many journals and is currently an associate editor for two, and is on the editorial board for the series New Directions in Mathematics and Science Education (Sense Publishers).

Swapna Mukhopadhyay is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Portland State University. She was born and raised in Calcutta. Dr. Mukhopadhyay is a mathematics educator focusing on issues of critical mathematics education and cultural diversity. The main thrust of her work is in realizing that mathematics is a socially constructed mental tool that is accessible to all. Widely traveled, she currently is involved in teacher preparation at the Graduate School of Education at Portland State University. She believes in alternative forms of knowledge and in validating the voices of people who are generally silent or deliberately not heard.

Ron Narode is an associate professor at Portland State University. Dr. Narode has 25 years of teaching experience in mathematics and mathematics and science education. He is currently Associate Professor, Math and Science Education at Portland State University where he has taught since 1991. Dr. Narode was a Senior Lecturer at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji from 1989-1991, and a Fulbright Professor at the Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal in 1989. From 1981-1989, Dr. Narode co-directed the Basic Math Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has taught for six years to middle and high school girls in the Summermath for Girls Program at Mt. Holyoke College, as well as freshmen students at Mt. Holyoke College and Amherst College in special summer mathematics programs. He has served as a Principal Investigator or academic leader on numerous grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and most recently from the Boeing Corporation who recognized Dr. Narode's Graduate Program for Teacher Preparation in Mathematics and Science as one of the top ten such programs in the country. Dr. Narode is recognized as an early adopter of the TAPPS (Think Aloud Pair Problem Solving) method of instruction in mathematics and science.

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