PRISM Research Lab

External Graduate Student Researcher

Megumi is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in mathematics education at Rutgers University. Their research interests include abolitionist and emancipatory possibilities in advanced undergraduate mathematics, including opportunities to connect advanced mathematics with students’ development of political consciousness.

They are presently a Dissertation Fellow through the National Academy of Education & Spencer Foundation. Megumi’s dissertation seeks to develop and test the viability of a learning trajectory for how students can use competencies from proof-based mathematics to support their sensemaking about prisons and abolition. They hold a M.Phil. degree in Criminology from the University of Cambridge and a B.A. degree in Mathematics with Honors from Williams College.

Inspiration for Megumi’s work stems from first-hand experiences, both from teaching in high school classrooms and conducting mathematics research. These experiences shed light on how mathematics can be construed as apolitical and unconcerned with broader societal injustices. Megumi’s research seeks to challenge these assumptions and explore how mathematical logic and proof can be used to make sense of as well as question social inequities. They enjoy collaborating with scholar-educators across disciplines, having previously co-developed a cross-disciplinary abolitionist curriculum through the Institute for Anti-Racist Education.

Megumi has presented research from the PRISM Lab at the Gender & Education Association Conference and Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education Conference. They are a contributing author for multiple publications on racial and intersectional justice in undergraduate mathematics and STEM more broadly.

Before their doctoral studies, Megumi worked as a full-time tutor and an AmeriCorps teaching assistant in the Bronx. In their free time, they enjoy journaling, bouldering, and weightlifting.