Associate Professor, Mathematics
- PhD, University of Illinois, Chicago, Mathematics
Dr. Cilli-Turner received her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago in mathematics with a concentration in mathematics education. The main focus of her current research are the impacts on students’ self-efficacy, persistence and affect from explicitly fostering and valuing creativity in the mathematics classroom. Her most recent publication explores the views on mathematical creativity of calculus students and how they can enhance current definitions in the literature. Along with members of the Creativity Research Group, Dr. Cilli-Turner has received NSF grants for work on mathematical creativity, published several manuscripts, and run special presentation sessions.
Another research and professional interest she has is in creating networks of support and training between novice and experienced education researchers. She was co-PI on an NSF conference grant to host the Professional-development for Emerging Education Researchers (PEER) workshop virtually over several weeks in Spring/Summer 2021. This workshop brought together mathematicians and physicists as well as more experienced education researchers to learn fundamentals of education research, design research projects, and find collaborators. Currently, we have created some online modules for those interested in education research and will continue to hold workshops and apply for funding.
Emily also has a passion for teaching and uses inquiry-based pedagogical methods, which have been shown to close the gap in mathematics success for underrepresented students and students of color. She also uses standards-based grading, which is a more transparent and equitable form of grading. When not teaching and researching, she enjoys being outside with her husband Alec, son, Meyer, and two dogs, Gracie and Sadie.
Scholarly Work
The main focus of Dr. Cilli-Turner’s current research are the impacts on students’ self-efficacy, persistence and affect from explicitly fostering and valuing creativity in the mathematics classroom. Her most recent publication explores the views on mathematical creativity of calculus students and how they can enhance current definitions in the literature. Another research and professional interest of hers is creating networks of support and training between novice and experienced education researchers.
More recently, Dr. Cilli-Turner taught a mathematics history course and has become very interested in the history of mathematical ideas, especially from a non-European perspective. In the past, Dr. Cilli-Turner has supervised student research on:
-Exploring student understanding of exponential functions and creation of a lesson plan introducing exponential functions using evidence-based practices
-Reviewing the literature on transfer of ideas from a mathematics course to a chemistry course and creating a lesson plan to help students explore the ideas of a math class in a chemistry context
During summer 2024, Dr. Cilli-Turner will be working with a STAR student to investigate fractal patterns in architecture of various cultures and use a program called Mandelbulb3d to determine equations to re-create these architectural designs in the digital world.