Montclair State - Mathematics Department

Montclair State - Mathematics Department The Department of Mathematics is part of the college of Science and Mathematics (CSAM) at Montclair State University, NJ.

Our very own Drs. Munakata & Leszczynski have published a book! This book is written with undergraduate students in mind...
06/01/2026

Our very own Drs. Munakata & Leszczynski have published a book! This book is written with undergraduate students in mind and is suitable as a textbook for general education mathematics courses. It can also be used for high school STEM clubs, summer bridge and enrichment programs and home schooling and allows for self-guided explorations by the student.

The book is available for order via Routledge and Amazon.

Congrats to Drs. Munakata & Leszczynski!

Munakata, M., & Leszczynski, E. (2026). Creative Thinking through Mathematics: A Student’s Guide to Mathematical Explorations. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003541097

The Department of Mathematics at Montclair is proud to celebrate a major milestone for one of our own. Dr. Geena Taite, ...
05/27/2026

The Department of Mathematics at Montclair is proud to celebrate a major milestone for one of our own. Dr. Geena Taite, a recent graduate of our doctoral program in Mathematics Education, has accepted her dream position as a full-time Lecturer of Developmental Mathematics at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

In a full-circle moment, Dr. Taite returns to Ramapo, where she first earned her undergraduate degree. Her appointment reflects both her deep commitment to students and her expertise in supporting meaningful mathematical learning across diverse contexts.

In her new role, Dr. Taite will deliver high-impact, inclusive instruction in developmental mathematics while also supporting adjunct faculty, leading innovative teaching and student support initiatives such as supplemental instruction and active learning, and contributing to ongoing course improvement. She will collaborate with colleagues on curricular design, and work closely with campus student success offices to strengthen mathematics support across the institution.

Dr. Taite’s journey reflects the kind of impact we hope to see from our graduates, thoughtful, dedicated educators who bring both vision and care to their work. We are thrilled to see her return to the institution where her academic path began, now as a faculty member shaping the experiences of future students.

Congratulations, Dr. Taite! We are incredibly proud of you and can’t wait to see all that you accomplish in this exciting new chapter.

Dr. Alfred Limbere, a former PhD student in Mathematics Education at Montclair, has published a study in Education Scien...
05/18/2026

Dr. Alfred Limbere, a former PhD student in Mathematics Education at Montclair, has published a study in Education Sciences examining how preservice teachers notice and respond to students’ reasoning about rate of change. This work explores how teachers attend to, interpret, and respond to students’ quantitative and covariational reasoning in dynamic mathematical contexts. The study offers insights into how teacher preparation can better support future educators in making sense of students’ thinking, particularly in challenging topics like rate of change. Alfred collaborated with Drs. DiNapoli and Greenstein as co-authors, as well.

You can find this paper via open access here: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/16/5/718

Alfred is now teaching in the mathematics department at Drake University in Iowa. We are so proud to see Alfred continuing to contribute meaningful research to the field!

The department recently celebrated several thesis defenses. Kaitlyn Cohan defended her master’s thesis entitled Analysis...
05/11/2026

The department recently celebrated several thesis defenses.

Kaitlyn Cohan defended her master’s thesis entitled Analysis of collective behavior in living and nonliving systems. Her committee included Dr. Ashwin Vaidya (thesis sponsor), Dr. Bogdan Nita, and Dr. Deepak Bal.

Edward Czudak defended his master’s thesis entitled The Tones And Frequencies Of A Glockenspiel. His committee included Dr. Bogdan Nita (thesis sponsor), Dr. Ashwin Vaidya, and Dr. Jonathan Cutler.

Vlad Nita defended his master’s thesis entitled An Exploration of Autorotating Pendulum Models. His committee included Dr. Ashwin Vaidya (thesis sponsor), Dr. Arup Mukherjee, and Dr. Jonathan Cutler.

Kevin Vargas defended his master’s thesis entitled Computational and Experimental Study of Energy Extraction from Vertical Axis Wind Turbines in Realistic Environments. His committee included Dr. Ashwin Vaidya (thesis sponsor), Dr. Arup Mukherjee, and Dr. Bogdan Nita.

Congratulations to you all for a successful defense. We are proud of you!

The Mathematics Department had nine students presenting research at this year's Student Research Symposium. Undergraduat...
05/04/2026

The Mathematics Department had nine students presenting research at this year's Student Research Symposium.

Undergraduate student Noelani Brown presented a poster entitled Bringing Back Belonging: Do Students’ and Faculty’s Perceptions of Student Belonging Align in STEM? (faculty mentor: Dr. Nina Bailey)

Masters student Grace Pomaah Amoako presented a poster entitled TikToks and High School Students’ Statistical Literacy: An Exploratory Case Study (faculty mentor: Dr. Nina Bailey)

Doctoral student Asja Alić presented two individual posters. The first entitled Patterns of Critical Statistical Literacy Habits of Mind across Preservice Teachers and Adults (faculty mentors: Dr. Nina Bailey and Dr. Karoline Smucker of Eastern Oregon University). The second Examining Descriptive Statistics Tasks in Introductory Statistics Textbooks (faculty mentors: Drs. Nina Bailey and Joseph DiNapoli).

Doctoral student Ariel Bonneau Rodriguez presented a poster entitled Introductory Statistics: How Textbooks Shape Student Learning (faculty mentor: Dr. Joseph DiNapoli).

Doctoral candidate Emily Olson presented a poster entitled The Role of Logic in Motivating In/Direct Proof: Analysis of Proof-Based Curriculum (faculty mentor: Dr. Joseph DiNapoli).

Doctoral student Gabriella Migliore presented a poster entitled Mathematical Modeling in the Big Ideas Blue Book (faculty mentor: Dr. Joseph DiNapoli).

Doctoral students Asja Alić and Ariel Bonneau Rodriguez co-presented a poster entitled Embodied Choreo-graphing of the Polar Coordinate System (faculty mentor: Dr. Steven Greenstein).

Doctoral candidate Amanda Provost, and doctoral students Ariel Bonneau Rodriguez, Michael Frimpong, and Toheeb Olatunji presented a poster entitled Multiplicative Reasoning Through Dynamic Measurement (faculty mentor: Dr. Nicole Panorkou).

We are so proud of you all!

Montclair State University’s Department of Mathematics recently welcomed admitted students to campus for two lively Admi...
04/27/2026

Montclair State University’s Department of Mathematics recently welcomed admitted students to campus for two lively Admitted Students Days, held on April 12 and April 19. These events gave prospective math majors a chance to experience the department firsthand, connect with faculty, and hear directly from current students about what it’s like to study mathematics at Montclair.

Throughout the day, visitors explored campus, asked questions about coursework and opportunities, and engaged in conversations that highlighted the collaborative and supportive nature of the program. A special thank you goes to our dedicated student ambassadors, Coda Mearizo, Lauren Khalil, Annabella Ganun, and Preston Pietruszewski, who helped make the experience both informative and welcoming.

We had a great time meeting our future Red Hawks and look forward to seeing many of them on campus this fall!

Doctoral students John O'Meara (Mathematics Education PhD candidate), Tim Aberle (TETD PhD candidate), and Shanna Anders...
04/20/2026

Doctoral students John O'Meara (Mathematics Education PhD candidate), Tim Aberle (TETD PhD candidate), and Shanna Anderson (soon-to-be graduate of the TETD PhD program) presented two papers on the Wipro SEF teacher leadership program with Dr. Mika Munakata (Mathematics) and Dr. Monica Taylor (Educational Foundations): Centering on the peripheral: Reimagining administrator support through the voices and networks of teacher leaders and Disrupting silos: Unpacking teacher leadership in an out-of-district community of practice.

These papers were presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Los Angeles, CA. Congrats everyone! Great job representing Montclair at AERA!

In a course called Choreomathematics in the doctoral program in Mathematics Education, students in Dr. Steven Greenstein...
04/13/2026

In a course called Choreomathematics in the doctoral program in Mathematics Education, students in Dr. Steven Greenstein’s class are developing what they refer to as an enactive educational ecosystem for the emergent learning of polar graphing. Each week in class, they pose and pursue their own mathematical inquiries into the wild world of the polar coordinate system through pole-based movement and with other invented tools, tasks, and practices. As they do so, they reflect on how spaces, bodies, things, and feelings shape our mathematical thinking and enliven our understandings. It’s a curious playground, for sure.

At a pivotal moment in their inquiry, they recently joined renowned NYC subway dancer, Ikeem Jones (), on the E-train where he gave them all kinds of choreo-mathematical things to think about. And be in awe of. Check him out. In the first video, he’s doing what he does. In the second one, he’s enacting his interpretation of the 4-petal graph of r = sin 2θ.

Address

1 Normal Avenue
Montclair, NJ
07043

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Montclair State - Mathematics Department posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category