Presenters

Leah Waheed

Leah Waheed, M. Ed., works with the Education Service Center Region XIII in Austin, Texas. Ms. Waheed began her career as an Associate School Psychologist and Licensed Specialist in School Psychology. Her background notes substantial experience working with special needs children. She has worked with children with learning difficulties, behavioral and emotional disorders, mental retardation, and children diagnosed on various points of the autism spectrum.

Dr. Jill Marshall

Dr. Jill A. Marshall is an assistant professor in the Science and Mathematics Education group. She received her BS in Physics from Stanford University in 1980 and her PhD in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984. She currently teaches professional development courses in the UTeach Natural Sciences certification program and graduate courses in Science and Mathematics Education. She has also developed an inquiry-based physical science course that focuses on cognitive and pedagogical issues. Doctoral candidates under her supervision have investigated teachers’ views on equitable science teaching, mathematical modeling of motion, the use of Personal Response Systems in college science classrooms, and the validity of the TAKS exam. Her research interests include cognitive issues in learning and teaching physical science and gender issues in science, engineering, and technology. She was involved in the design and calibration of particle detectors for use in space for 10 years at Southwest Research Institute before becoming increasingly involved in science outreach and education. She held a position focused on physics education research at Utah State University before returning to her native Texas in 2000.

Dr. Lupita Carmona

A native of Mexico, Dr. Lupita Carmona serves as an Assistant Professor teaching in the UTeach secondary certification program and the graduate program in Mathematics and Science Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Carmona worked for the Ministry of Education in Mexico, and later obtained her doctoral degree in Mathematics Education at Purdue University. Her research focuses on student learning, curriculum development, and evaluation and assessment, with heavy emphasis on collaborative learning and distance education.

Adem Ekmekci

Adem is a graduate student in Ph.D. program in Math Education, UT-Austin. Adem worked as a middle and high school math teacher in Turkey for two years after he got his Master's degree in Math Teaching from Bogazici University, Istanbul, in 2003. In UT graduate school, after working as a TA for 2 years, he has been promoted to assistant instructor position last Spring. His graduate advisor is Dr. Lupita Carmona. His research interests are, pre-college STEM education, models and modeling in science and math, and formative assessment.

Dr. Frances Monteverde

After serving as a social studies teacher and, later, administrator at the American School Foundation of Mexico City, Frances E. Monteverde earned her Ph.D. in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. Besides teaching social studies methods courses at UT, she has coordinated and facilitated fieldwork at all grade levels in the teacher education program. A qualitative researcher, she embraces a range of academic interests: the history of education, the development of critical thinking, textbook analysis, the histories of both Mexico and China, and multicultural issues related to education.

Dr. Debra Junk

Debra Junk is the Coordinator for Mathematics Initiatives at the Texas Regional Collaboratives. She has taught at the college level for 9 years and at the elementary level for 10 years. She graduated from UT-Austin in 2005 with a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education.

Brian Fortney

Brian is a doctoral candidate who is about to graduate from the science education Ph.D. program at UT-Austin. Brain has been working as an assistant instructor and research fellow for many years in Curriculum and Instruction department.

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