In my job, I teach undergraduate courses, I conduct math education research, I participate in many outreach activities, edit a problem solving journal, organize seminars and advise on various educational initiatives by sitting on different committees.  

In my teaching practice, I use different methods and approaches to get my students personally involved in developing mathematics. My main objective is to break the barrier of senseless formulas and memorized information and instead teach my students to make sense of math or any discipline they are in.

I use a practitioner’s approach to math education research: I use my own classroom and my own practice to study and develop tools to improve mathematical teaching and learning. As such, my interests vary from studying the effectiveness of group exams in mathematical courses to exploring the effects of precalculus knowledge on students' performance in a calculus course. A research mathematician by training, I choose to work with hard evidence and rigorous methods, so my educational research involves careful experimental design, data collection and statistical analysis.

As a university and department citizen, I participate in many activities within academia both locally and nationally. I am a member of several committees that advise on teaching and learning matters, I organize a teaching and scholarship seminar at my home institution, I participate in many conferences.

My job also often takes me outside of the university walls. I’ve been involved in outreach since my first participation in CMS SFU Math Camp in 2005. Since then, I have myself organized and ran numerous outreach events, including Math Camp for Aboriginal students at UBC and all 5 CMS UVic Math Camps to date. To me, outreach is the way to give back to my discipline, to show the new generation of students the math I fell in love with (no offense calculus, but my heart belongs to discrete mathematics), the kind of math they won’t see in school and the math they often don’t even consider to be math. I also enjoy working with more mathematically mature audiences. As the Editor-in-Chief of Crux Mathematicorum, I stay in close touch with Canadian and international problem solving community, which continues to inspire me in its vastness and dedication to the subject.

Tell us a little about your background and education.

I was born in Minsk, Belarus, which at the time was part of the USSR (indeed, I was born in the USSR). My parents and I moved to Canada when I was 18 after I completed the first year of Mathematics and Computer Science degree at the Belorussian State University. After taking a year off to strengthen my English, I enrolled into a BSc degree at Simon Fraser University. In my third year, I took a cryptography class and enjoyed my final project so much that I stayed at SFU for my Master’s degree to do further research on the topic.

Once I graduated from SFU, I moved to the University of Victoria for my PhD to work in the area of design theory that captured my attention long ago. But I soon found myself somewhat isolated in this research: it was too specific, too narrow to discuss with anyone but my supervisor. So not surprisingly, being in the classroom full of students talking math with them became more and more enjoyable. There was also an added challenge of trying to get the students to actually like math that I found energizing. So alongside doing disciplinary research in combinatorics, I participated in various educational activities and did more teaching. Luckily, my supervisor understood and supported my decisions and choices.

After completing my PhD, I proceeded in the new direction, which took me to University of British Columbia for a postdoctoral fellowship in the Carl Weiman Science Education Initiative. This position allowed me to formalize my interest in education and provided me with solid opportunities to develop my future research program.

I am now Assistant Professor at the University of the Fraser Valley.  

Throughout my academic career, I have been strongly involved with student initiatives. As an undergraduate, I was a secretary and then a treasurer of the Math Student Union at SFU. As a graduate student, I organized the Canadian Undergraduate Mathematical Conference and Pure Math Graduate Student Conference at SFU. During my time at UVIc as a PhD student, I founded a graduate student society that organized department seminars, weekly Tuesday tea and Friday beer, played intramural volleyball (Power Set team), ran 10K races (Sprintegers, Jogathirims and Random Walkers) and threw legendary end-of-term dress-up parties. All of these initiatives allowed me to participate in building a community to be a part of, which often helped me both personally and professionally.

I also got involved with the larger mathematical community when I became a member of the CMS Student Committee. In my time there, I founded poster sessions at semi-annual CMS meetings and the undergraduate journal Notes from the Margin. My involvement with student initiatives at the CMS led to my “grown-up” roles with the Society: I currently sit on the CMS Education Committee and serve as the Editor-in-Chief of Crux Mathematicorum.

Why did you decide to make a career of mathematics?

Being born into a family of mathematicians sealed my fate in more than one way. Practically, it was always understood that I will follow a similar career path of scientific nature. Romantically, I grew up around people talking about math as only mathematicians can. It is the latter that allowed me to persevere through all the calculus courses (sorry again calculus) and get to the math I liked. But in the end, it was always the company of people I was with that got me to stay in academia and in math. At SFU it was my tightknit research group and at UVic it was the graduate student body that supplied both the inspiration and support to carry on.

What do you do when you are not at work? What are your hobbies and other interests.

Of course some of my pastimes and hobbies involve mathematics. For example, I enjoy reading research papers and books on teaching and learning, but I particularly enjoy doing so in my pajamas with with a glass of red wine, which effectively makes it a hobby. I consider my Crux position to be a hobby because I treat it like one.

I like good food, especially in good company. I love camping and hiking. I am trying to get back into running (my half-marathon personal best of 2:00:01 is in serious need of at least the most minor improvement). I collect Formula One model cars and all sorts of stationery. And as any old lady in her mid 30s, I enjoy knitting and scrapbooking.

I also have two “live” hobbies, a toddler and a dog, making patience the biggest recent addition to my personality traits.