Principal Investigators and Project Staff

Tim Jacobbe, University of Florida (Principal Investigator). Dr. Jacobbe is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Education at the University of Florida. He has experience as an assessment specialist at Educational Testing Service and in the statistics education research community. As an assessment specialist, Jacobbe was one of the primary test developers for the AP Statistics Program. As a researcher, Jacobbe has examined elementary school teachers’ understanding of various statistical topics in relation to the expectations described in the GAISE framework. He was an author on a team that produced Bridging the Gap between Common Core State Standards and Teaching Statistics and NCTM’s Developing Essential Understanding of Statistics for Teaching Mathematics in Grades 6–8.

Bob delMas, University of Minnesota (Co-Principal Investigator). Dr. delMas is an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota. delMas has significant experience developing assessment items for an NSF-funded project entitled ARTIST. This project developed online resources for the creation of assessments in undergraduate statistics courses. In addition, Dr. delMas has written extensively on the differences between mathematical and statistical reasoning and served as the editor of the Statistics Education Research Journal.

Jeff Haberstroh, Educational Testing Service (Co-Principal Investigator). Haberstroh is a Lead Program Administrator at Educational Testing Service. Haberstroh has worked as the lead test developer for the AP Statistics Program since its inception (1991-2012). During this time, Haberstroh has coordinated the grading of several forms each year, which has gone from an approximate volume of 10,000 to over 125,000. Co-PI Haberstroh’s extensive list of test development experience includes serving as the Director of Test Development for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) from 2000-2009.

Brad Hartlaub, Kenyon College (Co-Principal Investigator). Dr. Hartlaub is a Professor at Kenyon College and a fellow of the American Statistical Association. Brad specializes in nonparametric statistical analysis. From 2004-2007, Dr. Hartlaub served as the Chief Reader for the AP Statistics Program. Dr. Hartlaub is overseeing the development of all rubrics for the LOCUS assessments based on his experience as Chief Reader for the AP Statistics program.

Catherine Case, University of Florida (Graduate Research Fellow). Catherine is a doctoral student in statistics education at the University of Florida and teaches AP Statistics at PK Yonge Developmental Research School. Catherine has also taught introductory statistics at the University of Florida, where she received a master’s degree in statistics. She was part of the writing team for the ASA’s Statistical Education of Teachers document, and her current research interests include students’ understanding of simulation-based approaches to statistics.

Steven Foti, University of Florida (Graduate Research Fellow). Steve is a doctoral student in statistics education at the University of Florida and has experience teaching both AP Statistics and introductory college-level statistics courses. In addition, Steve holds a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Florida and is on track to complete a minor in Research and Evaluation Methodology as part of his doctoral work. As a researcher, Steve focuses on helping others improve their statistical literacy.  

Douglas Whitaker, University of Florida (Graduate Research Fellow). Doug is a doctoral candidate in mathematics and statistics education at the University of Florida. Prior to entering the College of Education, he completed a master’s degree in statistics, also at the University of Florida. Doug has experience teaching introductory statistics material at both the high school and college level. His current research interests are in-service statistics teachers’ professional identities and assessing statistics.

Jim Hammerman, TERC (External Evaluator). Dr. Hammerman brings to LOCUS his experience both as an evaluator and as a statistics educator. He leads the Educating About Statistical Issues Using Large Scientific Data Sets project (NSF DRK12), served as Senior Researcher on the Visualizing Statistical Relationships (VISOR) project (Rubin, TERC, NSF ROLE), wrote curriculum materials for the Model Chance project (Konold, U MA Amherst, NSF DRK12), and has published and presented on statistics education both nationally and internationally.

Leela Kumaran, University of Florida (Project Coordinator). Dr. Kumaran’s primary academic background is in the area of Biology. She taught undergraduate and graduate Biology for 15 years in India before moving to the United States in 2003. To be able to maintain a flexible schedule for her family, Dr. Kumaran chose to pursue higher educational administration as an academic and career option. Since 2008, she has been involved in coordinating and managing several state and federally funded grant projects, totaling to over ten million dollars.