The prestigious appointment, in the Institute’s Department of Science Teaching for October 2013, is the second such appointment received by Dr. Strassfeld, who visited the Institute as a Visiting Faculty Fellow last year as well.   

The Feinberg Foundation attracts academics from around the world to pursue collaborative research at the Institute, an international center of scientific research and graduate study. Participating fellows are expected to work directly with students or to give seminars or mini-courses that contribute to the enrichment of the students’ education.

“Touro College and its Graduate School of Education are extremely proud that one of its faculty members, and the chair of its Program in Mathematics Education, has been selected once again as a Visiting Faculty Fellow at the prestigious Weizmann Institute,” said Dr. LaMar Miller, dean of the GSE. “This is a richly deserved honor for Dr. Strassfeld, and reflects her deep commitment to the promotion of high quality teaching and her pursuit of research to maximize all student learning. Our faculty and administrators are looking forward to benefiting from her new learning and experiences upon her return.”

During her fellowship last year, Dr. Strassfeld worked on a joint research project within the Integrated Mathematics Wiki-book Project – one that affords teachers the unusual opportunity to collaborate on editing the textbooks they use in their classes and producing wiki-based revised versions of those textbooks. This year, her focus will be on working directly with students in the Rothschild–Weizmann Program – a unique master’s program designed for secondary school teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology. Dr. Strassfeld will be assisting students as they prepare their final projects leading up to receipt of their master’s degrees. 

Dr. Strassfeld has been involved in both mathematics and mathematics education on the local, national and international levels for over thirty-five years.  She has presented at numerous conferences, and her research interests include the attitudes and beliefs of teachers and students as they relate to the learning and teaching of mathematics and teacher preparation.  She earned her Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of Plymouth, U.K, and both her bachelor’s degree in mathematics/mathematics education and her master’s degree in mathematics from Brooklyn College.