Board of Directors

of Mathematical Staircase, Inc.

dr. sarah-marie belcastro, President, holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan and has taught courses across the undergraduate curriculum at eight colleges and universities over the last 20 years. She has taught mathematics enrichment to secondary students through The Art of Problem Solving and taught at the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics for a decade, where she also co-directed the program for 4.5 years. sarah-marie has written a textbook (Discrete Mathematics with Ducks) and co-edited two volumes on mathematics and fiber arts (Making Mathematics with Needlework and Crafting by Concepts). She is excited to help more opportunities for more talented students come into being.

Dr. Hannah Alpert, Clerk, completed a Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT in Spring 2016 under the supervision of Larry Guth, focusing on geometry.  She is a an Assistant Professor at Auburn University and held an NSF postdoctoral research fellowship.  Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Chicago.  Her honors include the AWM Alice T. Schafer Prize and honorable mention for the AMS-MAA-SIAM Morgan Prize.  She participated in mathematics enrichment programs as a high-school student (where she was taught by sarah-marie, Emily, and Josh) and now wants to help bring the joy she experienced to others.

Joan M. Belcastro, Treasurer, holds a master's degree in Accounting from the University of Iowa and was a licensed CPA for many years in the state of Iowa, where she taught accounting at Northeast Iowa Community College for 25 years. She maintains books, monitors organizational finances, and advises the board of Mathematical Staircase on financial matters. Yes, she is sarah-marie's mom. Also, she is far more qualified than anyone else we know to maintain books and monitor organizational finances.

Dr. Emily Peters holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently on the faculty at Loyola University, Chicago. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Chicago, and her postdoctoral appointments include Northwestern University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a model inquiry-based teacher---for several years, the UCDavis Math Circle featured a transcript of her teaching an exemplary lesson---and feels that this mode of learning should be available to high-school students across the country and world. Emily has received NSF Division of Mathematical Science fellowships and grants for her work in subfactors and planar algebras.

Dr. Joshua Evan Greene holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University. He is currently Professor at Boston College. Josh can draw a perfect circle on any chalkboard and has successfully guided gifted high-school students to discover the proof of Kuratowski's Theorem. His undergraduate degree is from Harvey Mudd College, and his not-so-recent honors include winning the AMS-MAA-SIAM Morgan Prize. More recently he has received multiple grants, including an NSF CAREER grant and a Sloan Research fellowship, for his work in topology and Heegaard-Floer homology in particular. His most recent honor is the 2023 Levi L. Conant Prize, awarded by the American Mathematical Society for the best expository paper published in either the Notices of the AMS or the Bulletin of the AMS over a 5-year period.