Dr. Osvaldo “Ovie” Soto is the Director of the UC San Diego Mathematics Project. Soto has dedicated his career to the improvement of mathematics instruction in the San Diego region. He is a graduate of the San Diego State University-UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Mathematics Education and has nearly 20 years of experience teaching high school mathematics. Since completing his doctoral studies, Soto has served as a mentor for more than 50 secondary math teachers. He recently served as Director of the Discrete Math Project Collaborative (a $1.28 million California Department of Education-funded initiative).
Joan Commons is Co-Director of the UC San Diego Mathematics Project and has served as a K-6 teacher in the San Diego region and in Fresno, California. She was selected as a leader for Project AIMS (Activities to Integrate Math and Science) to provide professional development workshops for K-8 teachers across the U.S. She also developed a K-5 hands-on math lab for a local elementary school. Commons taught elementary math and science methods courses and supported student teachers at UC San Diego’s Teacher Education Program (now the Department of Education Studies). She joined CREATE to provide mathematics professional development for high-need elementary and middle schools. As part of that work, Commons wrote and directed a California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) grant and two California Mathematics and Science Program (CaMSP) grants, one in Inquiry in Mathematics (grades 3-8), and one in Physical Science and Engineering (grades TK-8). She is an active member of the regional mathematics community and has served in leadership positions in several professional organizations, including president of the Greater San Diego Mathematics Council and the California Mathematics Council-South.
Amy Wert, M.S., is a District Resource Teacher in the National School District and a National Board Certified Teacher with over 20 years of experience in upper elementary mathematics. She has been part of the UC San Diego Mathematics Project since 2018, designing and facilitating professional learning focused on fractions and ratio reasoning for grades 3–6. Amy is passionate about equity, teacher growth, and creating meaningful math learning experiences for all students.
Dr. Susan Yonezawa serves as the Executive Director of UC San Diego’s Center for Research on Education, Assessment and Teaching Excellence (CREATE). Yonezawa straddles the worlds of policy, practice, and research by working to embed research and design techniques into the lived practices and policies of urban public schooling.