Faculty Profile for Dr. Max L Warshauer

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Dr. Warshauer founded the Honors Summer Math Camp (HSMC) for talented high school students in 1990 and has taught the number theory course in this program each summer. He extended the HSMC to include younger students in 1996 when he began the Junior Summer Math Camp (JSMC) and developed this into a replicable model that included teacher training in 1997. He began Mathworks as a center of excellence in mathematics education to coordinate these student programs, associated teacher professional development, curriculum development, and related research about each of these programs.
Over 8000 students and 700 teachers have attended Mathworks Summer programs. Mathworks was one of five programs in Texas to receive the 2001 Texas Higher Education Star Award for Closing the Gaps. Dr. Warshauer was one of 10 individuals in the country to receive the 2001 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, presented by Rita Colwell, Director of the National Science Foundation on behalf of President Bush. The role of mentoring is a critical component of all of these programs, and provides a way to reach out to and support particularly underrepresented groups.
Mathworks sent the first U. S. teams ever to compete in the Primary Math World Contest (PMWC) in Hong Kong. These teams have won the Po Leung Kuk Cup 9 times as the top non-Asian team, and finished first overall in 2013, 2014, and 2016. Mathworks established international connections with teams throughout the far east, including especially Indonesia which has sent students to participate in the JSMC each of the past 8 years.
In December, 2007, Mathworks received the Siemens Founders Award which each year recognizes one person or program in the country for their contributions to developing future leaders in math, science, and technology. In 2008, Dr. Warshauer was recognized as a Regents Professor, the highest honor in the Texas State University System. He also received the 2008 Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 2008, 2009, 2010 Everette Swinney Faculty Senate Teaching Award, and in 2010 was named a Piper Professor.
Dr. Warshauer uses grants to support Texas State undergraduates to learn about teaching. Grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF-4 grants), Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), and 4 Teacher Quality Grants through the Texas Education Agency supported teacher training that resulted in training over 660 teachers. Grants from the Kodosky Foundation and Siemens Foundation provided opportunities for disadvantaged students to attend the JSMC and HSMC. Seventeen (17) grants from the American Math Society Epsilon Fund, which each year recognizes the top 10 or so summer programs in the country, along with other sponsors and donors has provided over $100,000 each summer in scholarships for disadvantaged students to attend the Mathworks summer math camps. In total, Dr. Warshauer has raised over $11 million in grants and donations to support Mathworks programs. Dr. Warshauer has always tried to ensure that financial background is not a problem for students to attend Mathworks summer programs, while using grants to introduce Texas State undergraduates and graduate students to exciting opportunities in teaching, research, and curriculum development.
In addition to working with students in these programs, Dr. Warshauer has collaborated with colleagues to develop a state adopted middle school curriculum that embeds Mathworks’ research-based guiding principles into our undergraduate teacher preparation programs. These programs establish a mentoring network that he is proposing to scale up to include other universities, middle and high school students and teachers, along with undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduates are able to get a hands-on introduction to teaching working as counselors in the JSMC, mentored by graduate students and faculty. In-service teachers learn new math content and pedagogy attending the JSMC teacher professional development, and apply what they learn with their students. Graduate students work on developing curriculum with faculty, teach and mentor undergraduates, and use the math camps as a setting to explore best practices in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Graduate student research has focused on how to support all students, and the ways that out-of-school programs can encourage and nurture middle and high school students with the foundation they will need to pursue careers in STEM.

Teaching Interests

Honors Number Theory, undergraduate and graduate math courses, particularly in algebra and combinatorics.

Research Interests

Teaching and Learning Mathematics, Gifted Education, Curriculum Development