Julie Cwikla, Ph.D.
Dr. Julie Cwikla (“Swick-la”) is the T.W. Bennett Professor of Mathematics Education. She also serves as Director for the Center for STEM Education and Director of Creativity & Innovation in STEM, in the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Southern Mississippi.
The mission of her work is to investigate questions of national and international significance, by bringing research funds into the region to benefit and improve STEM learning opportunities.
Julie Cwikla holds a doctoral degree in Mathematics Education, with a minor in Applied Mathematics from the University of Delaware and studied under the direction of Dr. James Hiebert. She also holds a master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Chemistry from Fairfield University. Julie has been awarded over $30 million dollars in external funds to support her ongoing research in STEM education and research from the National Science Foundation, DoDSTEM, the U.S. Department of Education, the Department of Defense, NASA, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, among others. She is also the 2019 Ada Lovelace STEM Educator.
Dr. Julie Cwikla has designed, led, and studied JROTC cadet learning and development related to military and civilian workforce pathways, professional learning for mathematics faculty in higher education, directed out-of-school interdisciplinary STEM programs for middle school students and their families, examined very young children's intuitive understanding of fraction concepts, studied teachers' use of handheld technology in STEM classes, designed interdisciplinary lessons for middle and high school classrooms, developed an educational research program to help organize and align undergraduate programs in engineering, and studied growing algae on Mars with support from NASA.
She is the author of over 50 publications, book chapters, journal articles, and monographs. She is also author of Good to Great Grant Writing: Secrets to Success.