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 in Math for America San Diego’s Teaching and Master Teaching Fellowship Programs. He recently served as Director of the Discrete Math Project Collaborative (a $1.28 million California Department of Education-funded initiative).
Dr. Susan Yonezawa serves as Co-Director of the UC San Diego Mathematics Project and is the Associate Director of UC San Diego’s Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence (CREATE). Yonezawa straddles the worlds of policy, practice, and research by working to embed research and design techniques and mindsets into the lived practices and policies of urban public schooling. She analyzes and engages issues of diversity, opportunity and inequality in schools and communities with a focus on the district, school and classroom leverage points that can increase college access for underrepresented, low-income students.
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 at a Title 1 school. 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 for the California Mathematics Council-South.
Angela Torres is a Professional Learning Coordinator at the UC San Diego Mathematics Project, focusing on supporting sites around San Diego County. Angela has a large focus on equity in math education, focusing on groupwork, equitable participation, and recognizing the mathematical brilliance in every student. She brings expertise in a systems level approach to creating change from her work in detracking math courses in San Francisco Unified, supporting teachers across a district to change practice, and through managing and facilitating in a program Re-culturing Mathematics Departments in multiple districts, focusing on the pedagogy of Complex Instruction. She is a co-author on the book A Guide to Detracking Math Courses: The Journey to Realize Equity and Access in K-12 Mathematics Education. Additional publications of hers include, an article in CMC’s ComMuniCator, “Working Towards Equity through Core Values,” and a chapter in Success Stories for Catalyzing Change in School Mathematics, “Being Bold: San Francisco’s Detracking Story as a Path to Equity.” Angela serves the greater math community as a member of the California Mathematics Council state board since 2020 and as a member of California Mathematics Education Collective starting 2021. Angela is a second generation Mexican American who was born and raised in San Diego and is proud to be the first college graduate on both sides of her family. She is excited to be back in San Diego working in the same math community that serves her family.