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Sierra Tempe prof wins study grant

By Sarah Auffret

Michelle Zandieh, an Arizona State University math professor who lives in Sierra Tempe, has received a half-million-dollar, five-year CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation for integrating education and research.

Only eight mathematics educators in the United States have won the award during the past three years, and two of them have been at ASU.

Marilyn Carlson, ASU associate professor of mathematics, was awarded the five-year grant in 1999. Both are involved in building a leading program in undergraduate mathematics.

"This is an extraordinarily high achievement, and these awards carry tremendous prestige," said Andrew Bremner, chair of the math department.

"As a department and a university, we can collectively take pride in this distinction."

The CAREER award is NSF's most distinguished honor for junior faculty members. Awards range in amount from $200,000 to $500,000. NSF established the program in 1995 to help top-performing scientists and engineers early in their careers develop simultaneously the excitement of research with inspired teaching.

The program encourages awardees to develop collaborative research and education partnerships between industry and academe.

Zandieh received the award to further her work in developing an understanding of student mathematical reasoning in undergraduate transition courses.

"Students completing the undergraduate mathematics major often find the transition from taking calculus courses to taking rigorous, proof-based mathematics courses particularly challenging," said Zandieh.

"To combat this problem, many departments have instituted 'transition' courses that focus on introductory aspects of logic and proof or have used other courses such as linear algebra or geometry to introduce students to formal mathematics.

"The objective of this project is to develop frameworks for understanding the mathematical reasoning of students taking these courses."

Zandieh has already produced a foundational paper in mathematics on analyzing student understanding of the concept of derivative. It has been described by senior members of the research community as ambitious and outstanding for someone so new to the field.

"I have no doubt that Michelle is emerging as one of the recognized leaders in our field, and I take great pride in having her as my colleague," said Carlson.

"We are optimistic that the products of our work will make significant contributions for improving the quality of mathematics curriculum and instruction at the undergraduate level."

Zandieh and Carlson have jointly developed four new graduate courses for preparing graduate students to conduct research in undergraduate math education. The two professors also are currently supervising 10 Ph.D. students who are conducting research in this area.

"CAREER awards support exceptionally promising college and university junior faculty who are committed to the integration of research and education," said NSF Director Rita Colwell.

"We recognize these faculty members, new in their careers, as most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21^st Century."

Sarah Auffret, a Kyrene Corridor resident and member of ASU’s Media Relations & Public Information office, can be reached at (480) 965-6991 or by e-mail at sauffret@asu.ed.

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