Luis A. Leyva
Assistant Professor, Mathematics Education, Department of Teaching and Learning
Faculty Affiliate, Women's & Gender Studies Program
Research
At intersections of gender studies, higher education, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), Leyva’s research examines historically marginalized students’ narratives of experience as engineering, computing, and mathematical science majors. These narratives reveal how interlocking systems of power, including racism, sexism, and heterosexism, shape unique experiences of oppression and resistance in undergraduate STEM education across intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and other identities. His research informs inclusive practices in undergraduate classroom teaching and co-curricular support spaces that affirm students’ intersectional identities and increase their persistence in STEM majors.
Leyva is the director of the PRISM (Power, Resistance & Identity in STEM Education) research lab at Peabody College. The lab’s research holds an “intersectional prism” up to historically marginalized populations’ narratives of experience to both illuminate and disrupt multi-dimensional forms of oppression in undergraduate STEM education.
His research was distinguished with a Dissertation Fellowship by the National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation. He received the 2018 Early Career Publication Award from the Research in Mathematics Education special interest group of the American Educational Research Association. More recently, Leyva’s contributions to mathematical sciences were recognized as a 2019 honoree in Lathisms, an online showcase of Latinx mathematics education researchers sponsored by the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America.
Brief Biography
Prior to joining the Peabody faculty, Leyva was certified as a K-12 mathematics teacher in New Jersey and recognized with the 2011 Distinguished Student Teacher of Year Award by the New Jersey Department of Education. He holds over six years of professional experience in higher education programs, including NSF STEP living-learning communities and the Upward Bound Math-Science summer bridge program, designed to increase STEM retention and success among historically underrepresented groups.
Representative Publications
(Please e-mail Dr. Leyva directly for copies of publications)
Refereed Articles
- Battey, D., Leyva, L. A., Williams, I., Belizaro, V., Greco, R., & Shah, R. (2018). Racial (mis)match in middle school classrooms: Relational interactions as a racialized mechanism. Harvard Educational Review, 88(4), 455-492.
- Leyva, L. A. (2017). Unpacking the male superiority myth and masculinization of mathematics at the intersections: A review of research on gender in mathematics education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 48(4), 397-452.
- Leyva, L. A. (2016). An intersectional analysis of Latin@ college women’s counter-stories in mathematics. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 9(2), 81-121.
- Battey, D., & Leyva, L. A. (2016). A framework for understanding whiteness in mathematics education. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 9(2), 49-80.
- Battey, D., Neal, R., Leyva, L. A., & Adams-Wiggins, K. (2016). The interconnectedness of relational and content dimensions of quality instruction: Supportive teacher-student relationships in urban elementary mathematics classrooms. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 46, 1-19.
Book Chapters and Monographs
- Leyva, L. A., & Alley, Z. D. (in press). A counter-storytelling of struggle and support in Black women’s mathematical talent development and STEM pursuits across white, patriarchal educational spaces. To appear in N. Joseph (Ed.), Understanding the intersections of race, gender, and gifted education: An anthology by and about talented Black girls and women in STEM (pp. 85-106). Information Age Publishing.
- Leyva, L. A. (2019). Beyond the binary and at the intersections: Chronicling contemporary developments of gender equity research in mathematics education. Invited chapter in C. Xenofontos (Ed.), Equity in mathematics education: Addressing a changing world(pp. 65-91). Information Age Publishing.
- Battey, D., & Leyva, L. A. (2018). Making the implicit explicit: Building a case for implicit racial attitudes to inform mathematics education research. In T. G. Bartell (Ed.), Toward equity and social justice in mathematics education (pp. 21-41). New York, NY: Springer.
Refereed Conference Proceedings
- Leyva, L.A., Quea, R., Weber, K., Battey, D., & López, D. (2019). Detailing the potentially marginalizing nature of undergraduate mathematics classroom events for minoritized students at intersections of racial and gender identities. In A. Weinberg, D. Moore-Russo, H. Soto, & M. Wawro (Eds.), Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (pp. 377-384). Oklahoma City, OK.
- Leyva, L. A. (2018). The counter-storytelling of Latinx men’s co-constructions of masculinities and undergraduate mathematical success. In A. Weinberg, C. Rasmussen, J. Rabin, M. Wawro, & S. Brown (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20thAnnual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (pp. 1031-1040), San Diego, CA.
- Leyva, L. A., Massa, J., & Battey, D. (2016). Queering engineering: A critical analysis of the gendered technical/social dualism in engineering and engineering education. In Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education’s 123rd Annual Conference and Exposition, New Orleans, LA. DOI: 10.18260/p.26026.
- Leyva, L. A. (2016). A critical look at undergraduate mathematics classrooms: Detailing racialized and gendered experiences for Latin@ college engineers. In T. Fukawa-Connelly, N. E. Infante, M. Wawro, & S. Brown (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (pp. 1040-1046), Pittsburgh, PA.
Media Coverage of Research
Courses Taught
- EDUC 6040: Analysis of Teaching (Graduate)
- EDUC 7300: Power & Identity in STEM (Graduate)
- EDUC 8040: Diversity & Equity in Education (Graduate)
- EDUC 9700: Research Groups: Identities across Educational Contexts (Graduate)
- EDUC 9700: Research Groups: Anthropological Inquiry in Education (Graduate)
- MTED 2200: Mathematics for Elementary Teachers (Undergraduate)
- MTED 3250: Teaching Mathematics in Elementary Schools (Undergraduate)
- MTED 3251: Practicum in Elementary Mathematics (Undergraduate)
- MTED 6250: Advanced Teaching of Mathematics in the Elementary School (Graduate)
- WGS 3850: Intersectionality in STEM Higher Education (Undergraduate)