Erin Krupa ’11PHD, an associate professor of mathematics education in the NC State College of Education, has been named a 2022-23 University Faculty Scholar.
The University Faculty Scholar program recognizes outstanding early- and mid-career faculty members for their significant academic achievements and contributions to NC State and the greater community. University Faculty Scholars carry the title for the duration of their faculty appointment at NC State.
“This distinction is an incredible honor and is an acknowledgement from the university that my work is valued beyond just my department or the College of Education,” Krupa said. “I made a really hard decision four years ago to leave a tenured academic position, so this honor also confirms I made a great decision for my career by coming to NC State.”
Krupa joined the College of Education in January 2019 as an assistant professor of mathematics education. In 2021, she was selected as a recipient of NC State’s inaugural Goodnight Early Careers Innovator Award and was named a Friday Institute for Educational Innovation Faculty Fellow.
Her research focuses on improving the quality of STEM teaching and learning through innovative curricular materials and professional development with the ultimate goal of improving student learning and engagement.
Krupa’s ongoing projects include, “Using Animated Contrasting Cases to Improve Procedural and Conceptual Knowledge in Geometry,” which has developed animated, digital materials to highlight different geometric features and help students better understand the mathematics concepts they are learning; “Validity Evidence for Measurement in Mathematics Education,” which is creating a publicly available repository of quantitative measures and evidence for the validity of those measures in STEM and “Design and Pitch Challenges in STEM: Merging Entrepreneurship and Mathematics Learning,” which will develop nine design challenges rooted in the high school mathematics curriculum that will encourage students to build, test and refine prototype STEM products, design business plans to demonstrate product viability and pitch their products to a panel of judges.
In August 2022, Design and Pitch Competition materials created by Krupa and project co-principal investigator Robin Anderson received an International Society for Technology in Education’s Best of STEM Award.
“An honor like the University Faculty Scholarship is a testament to my entire research team’s joint work together. I acknowledge that it is a wonderful individual honor, but my success only happens because of the joint work of my Exploring Mathematics Curricula Creatively (EMC^2) research team and through the support of my colleagues,” Krupa said.
In addition to her research, Krupa said her proudest moments in the College of Education have come from her work in supporting students.
She recently launched an initiative to help students receive math support from their peers, who are training to be mathematics educators, on campus. In addition, her work in teaching and refining the MA 408: Foundations of Euclidean Geometry course required for middle and secondary mathematics education majors has sparked a collaboration between Krupa and colleagues in the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences to reimagine mathematics courses for future elementary and middle grades educators.
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