Pacific University Math Professor Nancy Neudauer Receives Fourth Fulbright Award

Pacific University Professor Nancy Neudauer has received her fourth Fulbright Specialist award to continue to expand and develop mathematics education abroad.

The competitive award will allow Neudauer to travel to Colombia in June 2018 to lead a project at the Universidad de Antonio Nariño, a private university of some 16,000 students based in Bogotá that offers undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degree programs for aspiring math teachers.

Neudauer, a professor of mathematics at Pacific, will develop and present lectures, experiential activities and other programming to Nariño students and faculty specifically to build on the epistemology (working theory) of math education and its methodologies.

Her programming will consist of a wide range of topics, including the foundations of math education, interdisciplinary learning, innovative teaching methods, math education research training and evaluation, and more. 

Neudauer will draw from her research and work as a co-principal investigator on two current projects funded by the National Science Foundation: the Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics, where she provides training for faculty nationally in undergraduate research and conducts collaborative research opportunities with Pacific undergraduate students; and The Mathematical Education of Teachers as an Application of Undergraduate Mathematics, where she develops ready-to-use course modules and runs faculty development workshops.

The Fulbright Specialist Program, part of the larger Fulbright Program, pairs highly qualified U.S. academics with host institutions abroad to share their expertise, strengthen international partnerships, and learn about other cultures.

Neudauer has previously received three Fulbright Specialist awards, which she has used to develop master’s-level math education and research in South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana and Cameroon through the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences’ Next Einstein initiative.

Earlier in 2018, she returned to South Africa to lead a math workshop for women there designed to help develop a network of African women with common mathematical interests.