RALEIGH, N.C. — Associate Professor Erin Krupa has been appointed as a senior faculty fellow at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, beginning Oct. 11, 2023. Friday Institute senior faculty fellows are chosen by the Friday Institute executive director, serve a five-year term, provide leadership and direction for the Friday Institute by serving on the Friday Institute leadership team and contribute to the overall intellectual life of the Friday Institute.
“We are delighted to add Dr. Erin Krupa to our group of distinguished senior faculty fellows at the Friday Institute,” said Krista Glazewski, executive director of the Friday Institute and associate dean for translational research in NC State’s College of Education. “Her addition to this group is a well-deserved recognition for her achievements, and I am confident that Erin will continue to bring innovative, creative and fresh ideas not only to her work in math education but to our group at the Friday Institute.”
Each year, College of Education faculty are invited to affiliate with the Friday Institute based on alignment with the Friday Institute mission. Three types of affiliations are available, each with different levels of engagement with the Friday Institute: Friday Institute scholars, Friday Institute faculty fellows and Friday Institute senior faculty fellows. Krupa will be joining Distinguished Professor Hollylynne Lee, Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor Gail Jones and Distinguished Professor Tiffany Barnes as senior faculty fellows at the Friday Institute.
Krupa is an associate professor of mathematics and statistics education in the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education in the College of Education. She is the founder of Exploring Mathematics Curricula Creatively (EMC2), which seeks to design and evaluate engaging materials for grades 6-12 mathematics learning, and her research focuses on improving the quality of mathematics teaching and learning through innovative curricular materials and professional development.
“I believe I will bring innovative ideas and a new voice to the table,” said Krupa. “I think this is a really exciting time to be involved as a senior faculty fellow given there is a new director and emerging energy at the Friday Institute coming out of the pandemic. The current senior faculty fellows do amazing research and have been great mentors to me since joining the faculty at NC State five years ago. Hopefully, having some new young blood in the group will lead to some new, sustainable and innovative collaborations.”
Krupa’s EMC2 research team at the Friday Institute works to make the learning of mathematics fun and engaging for kids so that they can understand the math they are learning in meaningful ways. A couple of their projects include Animated Contrasting Cases in Geometry, where students explore multiple-solution strategies for solving geometry problems through freely available, animated, web-based materials, and the Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM that engage students in entrepreneurial challenges designed around an authentic entrepreneurial process connected to rich mathematics learning. Finally, Krupa’s Validity Evidence for Measurement in Mathematics Education (VM2ED) team is creating a repository of quantitative measures used in mathematics and statistics education to help other scholars in the field identify quantitative instruments with their associated validity evidence.
“I look forward to connecting with more people in the College of Education and in the partnerships with other researchers and district collaborators,” said Krupa. “I also look forward to being part of creating and enacting the vision for the next 25 years of the Friday Institute.”
The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation brings together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to lead the transition to next-generation education systems that will prepare students for success in the digital-age world. It conducts research, develops educational resources, provides professional development programs for educators, advocates to improve teaching and learning, and helps inform policymaking. The Friday Institute is a part of the NC State College of Education. Visit fi.ncsu.edu to learn more.
- Categories:
