Personal Profile of Dr. Luis A Leyva
Dr.
Luis
A
Leyva
Home Page: https://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/bio/luis-leyva
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education
Home Page: https://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/bio/luis-leyva
| At intersections of gender studies, higher education, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), Leyva’s research examines historically marginalized students’ narratives of experience as engineering, computing, and mathematical science majors. These narratives reveal how interlocking systems of power, including racism, sexism, and heterosexism, shape unique experiences of oppression and resistance in undergraduate STEM education across intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. His research informs inclusive practices in undergraduate teaching and co-curricular support that affirm students’ intersectional identities and increase their persistence in STEM majors. Leyva is the director of the PRISM (Power, Resistance & Identity in STEM Education) research lab at Peabody College. The lab’s research holds an “intersectional prism” up to historically marginalized populations’ narratives of experience to both illuminate and disrupt multi-dimensional forms of oppression in undergraduate STEM education. His research was distinguished with a Dissertation Fellowship by the National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation. He received the 2018 Early Career Publication Award from the Research in Mathematics Education special interest group of the American Educational Research Association. More recently, Leyva’s contributions to mathematical sciences were recognized as a 2019 honoree in Lathisms, an online showcase of Latinx mathematics education researchers sponsored by the American Mathematical Society and Mathematics Association of America. Prior to joining the Peabody faculty, Leyva was certified as a K-12 mathematics teacher in New Jersey and recognized with the 2011 Distinguished Student Teacher of Year Award by the New Jersey Department of Education. He holds over six years of professional experience in higher education programs, including NSF STEP living-learning communities and the Upward Bound Math-Science summer bridge program, designed to increase STEM retention and success among historically underrepresented groups. |