Yvonne Lai is an expert in the field of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. Her current research program seeks to improve the education of secondary mathematics teachers and early mathematics majors by bridging disciplinary perspectives from mathematics and education. She has been an investigator or co-investigator on projects receiving a total of nearly $8M in funding. Her collaborators include those from The Algebra Project, the Educational Testing Service, and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. Lai is a member of the National Academies Mathematical Sciences Education Board, a Steering Committee member of the CBMS Mathematical Education of Teachers, III, a member at large on the Council of the AMS, past chair of the MAA’s Committee on the Mathematical Education of Teachers, and founding chair of the MAA’s Special Interest Group on Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, an organization with now over 200 members, to support mathematics faculty invested in teacher education. She is Vice Chair of the Board of the Mathematical Foundation of America, which oversees the Canada/USA Mathcamp for high school students, where she was previously an instructor and a student. Lai received the 2025 AMS Award for Impact on the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics and the 2025 MAA Haimo Award.
Notable addresses:
2024 MAA Lecture on Teaching, at the Joint Mathematics Meetings, San Francisco, CA
2024 Plenary Speaker, at the Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, Omaha, NE
2024 Opening Plenary Panelist, at the Annual Conference of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, Orlando, FL
2023 Briefing of the 118th Congress on STEM Education, Washington, D.C.
Committee Appointments:
Mathematical Sciences Education Board of the National Academies, 2025-2027
US National Commission on Mathematics Instruction (USNC/MI), 2025-2027
Steering Committee for the Mathematical Education of Teachers III of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, 2025-
Awards:
2025 Mathematical Association of America Deborah & Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award, for wide recognition of extraordinary teaching effectiveness and influence beyond their own institution
2025 American Mathematical Society Award for Impact on the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics, for significant contributions of lasting impact to mathematics education.
2021 Donald W. Miller Mathematics Award from the Lincoln Rotary Club, for outstanding contributions to mathematics education
2019 College of Arts & Sciences Teaching Academy Fellow, for excellence and leadership in teaching
2018 Top Three Paper Award from the Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (SIGMAA-RUME)
2018 College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award, for exceptional teaching
2016 Harold & Esther Edgerton Junior Faculty Award, to honor creative research, extraordinary teaching abilities, and academic promise
2012 Janet Duffin Award, from the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics, for most outstanding contribution to journal Research in Mathematics Education
2010 Best Paper Award from SIGMAA-RUME
… And …
Although these are from graduate school, I list them below because they represent a special time in my life.
2008 Special Departmental Recognition (UC Davis) for “her exceptional contributions to the Galois Group, her generous service to the community of graduate students in the Department of Mathematics, and for her tireless efforts to establish better communication between the students and the faculty”
2006 William Karl Schwarze Scholarship (UC Davis), given to one graduate student per year in Mathematics who has demonstrated outstanding mathematical scholarship and exceptional promise of making a strong professional contribution as a mathematics teacher and educator at the pre-college or college level
2005 Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Community and Diversity (UC Davis), in the graduate student category. Awards in this category are given to one graduate student or graduate student group per year. This Award was given for the founding of the Davis Math Circle and the Explore Math Program.
Yvonne Lai 