About

Dr. Carrie Diaz Eaton uses a mixed methods approach to research in complex adaptive and co-evolving systems.  Their primary research area is in inclusive and interdisciplinary undergraduate STEM education. Diaz Eaton uses a mix of modeling, computational text analysis, data analysis, surveys, ethnography, digital narratives, online communication, and community-based approaches to explore ask how systems are changing and to leverage these insights into change through advocacy.

Student internships and research areas include:

• Interdisciplinary and inclusive STEM education research (funded positions available),
• Data science and social justice (context overlaps the other areas),
• Design and coevolution of sociotechnical information systems (including social media and AI),
• Mathematical ecology (community coevolution, disease modeling, and education).

Diaz Eaton’s degrees are in mathematics, and their research is grounded in approaches from complex adaptive systems in evolution and ecology. A long-time social justice advocate and community builder, Diaz Eaton has leveraged their work to create socio-cyber ecosystems which support interdisciplinary STEM education, including QUBES, SCORE and EDSIN, and now leads the Institute for a Racially-just, Inclusive and Open STEM education (RIOS Institute). 

In 2018, Dr. Diaz Eaton was selected as a SACNAS Leadership Institute Fellow and in 2020 was awarded the Society for Mathematical Biology John Jungck Excellence in Education Prize for interdisciplinary computational and mathematical biology education and mentorship. During the 2022-2023 academic year, Diaz Eaton was on sabbatical as a visiting researcher and at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Mathematics at Brown University and the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation at the University of Chicago as a program organizer. Dr. Diaz Eaton currently serves as the Chair for the Committee on Minority Participation in Mathematics for the Mathematical Association of America and a Faculty Mentor for the 2024-2025 AACU Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum.

Dr. Diaz Eaton is also a proud 1st generation Latinx. She is also a mother to two children. Dr. Diaz Eaton values the complex interplay at the intersection of her identities, professional activism in STEM education, research, and teaching.

Selected publications

• Henrich A, Klee S, Diaz Eaton C, and Townsend J. 2024. Math Majors Handbook, MAA Notes Series, Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
• Villegas Martinez BM, Gesing S, Stirm C, Klimeck G, Zentner L, Wang S, Diaz Eaton C, Donovan S, Zhao L , Song C, Kim IL, Strachan A, Zentner M and Kalyanam R. 2023. Hubzero: Community Growth for Four Science Gateways Supporting Open Science Computing in Science & Engineering, 25(1):34-42. doi: 10.1109/MCSE.2023.3285092.
• Invited Article, Jones Q, Vindas Meléndez AR, Mendible A, Aminian M, Brooks HZ, Alexander N, Diaz Eaton C, and Chodrow P. 2023. Data science and social justice in the mathematics community. AMS Notices. October https://doi.org/10.1090/noti2773.
• Diaz Eaton C. 2023. STEM as Culture: Exploring exclusion and inclusion in mathematics and biology, in The Learning and Teaching of Calculus Across Disciplines Conference Proceedings, pg 7-20.
• Diaz Eaton C, Zhao Y, and Taylor R. (2023) Centering connections and collaborations in the evaluation of STEM education transformation. Research on Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) XXV Conference Proceedings. preprint
• Diaz Eaton C. 2022. Teaching Machine Learning in the Context of Critical Quantitative Information Literacy. Proceedings of the Second Teaching Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Workshop, in Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 170:51-56 
• Alexander N, Diaz Eaton C, Shrout AH, Tsinnijinnie B, Tsosie K. (2022) Beyond Ethics: Considerations for Centering Equity-Minded Data Science. Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. 12 (2): 254-300.
• Gesing S, Stirm C, Klimeck G, Zentner L, Wang S, Villegas Martinez BM, Diaz Eaton C, Donovan S, Zhao L , Song C, Kim IL, Strachan A, Zentner M and Kalyanam R (2022).  Open Science via HUBzero: Exploring Five Science Gateways Supporting and Growing their Open Science Communities.  Proceedings of HICSS-55 (55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences),  Open Science Practices in Information Systems Research, January 2022.
• Diaz Eaton C, Bonner K, Cangialosi K, Dewsbury B, Diamond-Stanic M, Douma J, Smith MK, Taylor R, Wilfong K, Wojdak J (2022) Sustainability Challenges for Open Resources to promote an Equitable Undergraduate Biology Education. CBE-Life Science Education. 21(3).
• Aikens M, Highlander HC, and Diaz Eaton C. 2021. The Case for Biocalculus: Improving student understanding of the utility value of mathematics to biology and affect toward mathematics. CBE-Life Science Education. 20(1): ar5-ar5. 
• Emery NC, Bledsoe EK, Hasley AO, and Diaz Eaton C. 2021. Cultivating inclusive instructional and research environments in ecology and evolutionary science. Ecology and Evolution. 11: 1480-1491. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7062  
• Akman O, Diaz Eaton C, Horenzick D, Jenkins K, and Thompson KV. 2020. Building community-based approaches to systemic reform in mathematical biology education. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. 82(8), 1-21.
• Topaz CM, Cart J, Diaz Eaton C, Shrout AH, Higdon JA, İnce K, Katz B, Lewis D, Libertini J, and Smith CM.  2020. Comparing demographics of signatories to public letters on diversity in the mathematical sciences. PLoS ONE. April 28, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230811
• Diaz Eaton, C, Dahlquist, K, Highlander, H, LaMar, MD, Ledder, G., and Schugart, R. 2019. A “Rule of Five” Framework for Models and Modeling to Unify Mathematicians and Biologists and Improve Student Learning. Special Issue on Interdisciplinary Conversations for Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematical Undergraduate Studies [PRIMUS]. DOI: 10.1080/10511970.2018.1489318
• Diaz Eaton, C and Bailey, LM. 2018. Finding Luz: Illuminating our identities through duoethnography. Special Issue on Mathematics and Motherhood, Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. 8(2):60-89. DOI: 10.5642/jhummath.201802.08.
• Diaz Eaton, C and Highlander, H. 2017. The Case for BioCalculus: Design, Retention, and Student Performance. CBE-Life Science Education. 16(2):ar25. Link
• Diaz Eaton, C, Anderson, LJ, Allen, D, Bowser, G, Pauley, MA, Williams, KS, and Uno, GE. 2016. Summit of the Research Coordination Networks for Undergraduate Biology Education. CBE-Life Science Education. 15(4):mr1. Link
• Donovan, S, Diaz Eaton, C, Gower, ST, Jenkins, K., LaMar, MD., Poli, DB., Sheehy, R., and Wojdak, JM.  2015. QUBES: A community focused on supporting teaching and learning in quantitative biology. Letters in Biomathematics. 2(1):46-55. Link