AMS@UMassD Fall 2016

‌Vanessa Haen

Vanessa Haen is a geometry, algebra, and statistics teacher at Carver High School. She has been teaching at Carver High School for two years and has been able to apply the knowledge gained from her time in the UMass Darmouth Mathematics program to the classroom in a variety of ways. Vanessa graduated from UMass Dartmouth in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a minor in Sociology. She is currently attending Bridgewater State University to complete her MAT.

Daniel Higgs 

Daniel Higgs is 2008 Applied Mathematics major who now works as an algorithm developer at Passport Systems. During his time at UMass Dartmouth, he worked as a research assistant under Professors Sigal Gottlieb and Jae-Hun Jung and later as part of the CSUMS (Computational Science Training for Undergraduates in the Mathematical Sciences) program where in addition to keeping the mathematics lab fully stocked with tea and animal crackers, he helped students utilize computational resources and apply techniques in order to advance their own research projects.

Elise Korejwa 

Elise Korejwa is the Senior Research Associate at the Public Policy Center at UMass Dartmouth. Elise specializes in statistical analysis and other applied social science research methods. An experienced policy analyst who has worked with state and local government and non-profit agencies, Elise plays an integral role in the PPC’s economic impact and industry cluster studies, program evaluations, and other empirical research involving primary and secondary data analysis. A native of the SouthCoast, Elise earned a B.S. in Quantitative Public Policy Analysis at UMass Dartmouth (a multidisciplinary degree combining mathematics, economics, public policy, and political science), and an M.S. in Statistics and M.P.P. at Oregon State University. She is also an alumna of inaugural Research in Scientific Computing in Undergraduate Education (RESCUE) class, which was called CSUMS at the time.

Sean McNulty

Sean McNulty is the Advanced Placement Calculus teacher at New Bedford High School. He grew up in the city of New Bedford and is very pleased to be servicing the students from his hometown. He has been teaching at New Bedford High School for three years now and is looking forward to sharing his experiences and mathematical knowledge with his students for years to come. Sean graduated from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and is continuing his education in the Masters Arts of Teaching program at Umass Dartmouth.

‌Rachel Stopka

Rachel Stopka, lead designer and project manager at from [in] form, joined the design/build architectural studio in 2014.  She began building with her father as a child in Massachusetts and has rough and finish carpentry experience.  She previously spent three years at 3SIXØ Architecture in Providence, RI as a designer and project manager and has experience on residential, commercial and institutional projects.

Rachel earned her Master of Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design in 2010 and her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2007 where she graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Rachel recently served as an adjunct faculty member at the Roger Williams University School of Art, Architecture and Historic Preservation where she taught core architecture design studios.  She has also taught at Rhode Island School of Design and has worked with students from RISD and the Universidad Tecnologica Equinoccial in Ecuador on a design-build project for an Ecuadorian artisan community.