C. Davis
919 E. Shaw Lane
Holmes Hall, Room E-7
East Lansing, MI 48825
United States
Biography
Davis (they/them) is a fourth-year graduate student pursuing a doctorate in mathematics education and a master's in applied mathematics. Their pedagogy is rooted in discovery, joy, and care with the hope that mathematics can become a site of attachment and exploration rather than exclusion. They believe that mathematics should not be a barrier to students' ambitions and are passionate about equity and access through mathematics teaching and learning. Their research explores how gender minorities, particularly transgender individuals, experience high level mathematics and mathematical proof. In their free time they enjoy playing volleyball, knitting, and hanging out with their pet parrot Pascal.
Education
- Bachelor of Arts, Mathematics and Statistics, Smith College
- Bachelor of Science, Dance, Smith College
Honors and Awards
- Distinguished Graduate Student Award in Justice and Equity Pedagogy: awarded by the MSU College of Education and the MSU College of Natural Science
- Recipient of the Dr. Marilyn Zweng Endowed Graduate Student Award in Mathematics Education
Research
Davis primarily conducts research on undergraduate mathematics education and the experiences of gender minority college students. They are currently conducting research alongside Dr. Gutzwa and fellow Lyman Briggs faculty Dr. McNeil on the epistemological and ontological experiences of transgender mathematicians, investigating how their joy, resilience, and personal narratives are visible in their work with high level mathematics. They are also working with Dr. Vroom on researching students' experiences reinventing tests for series convergence and divergence in undergraduate calculus. Additionally, their dissertation research explores queer readings of mathematical proof and the intersections between queerness, mathematics, and more humanizing experiences with higher level mathematics content.
Publications
- Vroom, K., Davis, C., Elizondo, T. (2026) Two undergraduate’s collective argumentation for series convergence and divergence. Journal for Mathematical Behavior https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2026.101334
- Davis, C. (2026) Queer readings of mathematical proof: Appropriating norms in the pursuit of epistemic justice and queer joy. Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education. Alexandria, Virginia
- Davis, C. (2025) Does everything have to be gay? Queer pedagogy in undergraduate STEM classroom. Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education. Alexandra, Virginia.
- McNeill, R., Davis, C., Black, K., Gutzwa, J., McCall, M. (2026) Living as abstract nonsense: Ontological tensions in trans experiences of mathematics. Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education. Alexandria, Virginia.
- Wiest, L., Hall, J., Piatek-Jimenez, K., Provost, A., Davis, C. , Dubeau, K. (2025) Use of gender- and sex-related terminology in the PME-NA 2022-2024 proceedings. Proceedings of the forty-seventh annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Penn State College of Education.