Commitee Co-Chairs
Christine Kelley has been on the NCUWM Organizing Committee since 2008. Her research area is coding theory. After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 2006, she held postdoctoral research positions at the Fields Institute and The Ohio State University. Her research has been supported by NSF, NSA, and the Simons Foundation. She has supervised several undergraduate research projects, and eight Ph.D. Students. She received the university's Harold and Esther Edgerton Junior Faculty Award in 2010, a College Distinguished Teaching Award in 2012, the Roger Wiegand Award for Contributions to Graduate Students in 2021 and is a 2024 Fellow of the Association for Women in Mathematics. She is also the Director of Project NExT, a national professional development program for junior faculty in mathematics, for the Mathematical Association of America, and the Chair of the AWM Education & Outreach Portfolio.
Alex Zupan is in his 9th year on the NCUWM Organizing Committee. His research is in geometry and topology. In particular, he studies 3- and 4-dimensional manifolds and the theory of knots in these dimensions. Before arriving at UNL, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and held an NSF Postdoc position at the University of Texas at Austin. He has supervised a number of undergraduate research projects at both UNL and UT.
Faculty Members
Kristen Amman is an assistant professor of mathematics, currently serving her third year on the committee. Her research focuses on how undergraduate students perceive and experience learning across the mathematics curriculum. She is particularly interested in how students relearn familiar content, such as in repeated Calculus courses or math courses designed for future teachers. More recently, her work has expanded to examine the mathematical knowledge needed to effectively teach Calculus to STEM majors outside of mathematics. Kristen earned her Ph.D. in Math Education from Rutgers University and enjoys participating in mentorship events at the annual Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) conference. She looks forward to engaging with participants and welcomes questions from anyone interested in mathematics education research.
Huijing Du has been on the NCUWM Organizing Committee since 2016. She got her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, and then she was a postdoctoral scholar at University of California, Irvine. Her research is in the area of computational and mathematical biology, in particular using multiscale modeling tools to investigate complex multicellular biological systems.
Ishan has been a postdoctoral faculty at UNL since Fall 2023. Before joining UNL, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California, Riverside. He graduated with his Ph.D. in mathematics from the Vanderbilt University in 2022. His research is in the field of von Neumann algebras and its connections to group theory and ergodic theory. This is his first year on the organizing committee.
Graduate Students
Julia Courtney is a third-year graduate student in mathematics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, advised by Alexander Zupan. Her research interests are in topology, particularly low-dimensional topology and knot theory. She received her B.S. in mathematics from Fairfield University in 2023 and her M.S. from UNL in 2024. She first attended the NCUWM as an undergraduate and has continued her involvement as a graduate student volunteer for the past two years. This will be her first year on the NCUWM organizing committee.
Juliann Geraci is a fifth-year graduate student in mathematics at the University of Nebraska, advised by Dr. Alexandra Seceleanu. Her interests are in commutative algebra and its applications, as well as mathematical neuroscience. She received BA in mathematics from the State University of New York at Oswego in 2020 and her MS in mathematics from UNL in 2021. She attended NCUWM twice as an undergraduate student and has volunteered at the conference as a graduate student since coming to UNL. This is her second year on the NCUWM Organizing Committee.
Sara Mueller is a fifth-year graduate student interested in commutative algebra. She graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. in mathematics and a minor in environmental science and her M.S. in mathematics from UNL. Sara spends her non-math time crafting, watching women’s sports, and hiking with her dog Bucky. This is her second year on the NCUWM Organizing Committee.
Uyen Tran is a third year graduate student interested in commutative. She received B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science from UNL in 2023. She attended NCUWM twice as an undergraduate student. Coming from another country, she loves exploring and learning new cultures. This is her first year on the NCUWM committee.
Conference Organizers
Mike Bergland-Riese joined the Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education in 2022, after working for the past 10 years with Nebraska Extension. In his new role, Mike is an Events and Outreach Specialist with the CSMCE, providing leadership and expertise in planning and delivering STEM-focused events. Mike received his Bachelor of Science in hospitality, restaurant, and tourism management and Master of Arts in marketing, communications studies and advertising from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He has served on the committee since 2023.
Erin Ingram recently joined the Center for Science, Mathematics, and Computer Education in August 2024 as their associate director. She has formal training as an educator (B.S. in elementary education), scientist (M.S. in entomology), and discipline-based education researcher (Ph.D. in entomology) as well as eight years of experience with the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ (IANR) Science Literacy initiative as a STEM curriculum development specialist (2016-2019) and community engagement coordinator (2020-2024). Erin has served on the committee since 2025.