Christina Eubanks-Turner facts for kids

Christina Eubanks-Turner is a smart and inspiring professor of mathematics. She teaches at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in the Seaver College of Science and Engineering. Her main interests are in different areas of math, like graph theory and how to teach math better. She also works to help more people from diverse backgrounds get into math and science.

Professor Eubanks-Turner is also in charge of the Master's Program in Teaching Mathematics at LMU. This program helps future teachers learn how to teach math in fun and effective ways.

Early Life and Education

Christina Eubanks-Turner grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a child, she loved solving logic puzzles. She also enjoyed thinking creatively to find solutions to problems. These early interests helped her become a great mathematician.

She went to Xavier University of Louisiana, which is a historically black college. She earned her first degree there in 2002 with high honors. Later, she continued her studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She earned her Master's degree in 2004 and her Ph.D. in 2008 from this university.

A very special achievement for Christina Eubanks-Turner was being one of the first two African Americans to earn a doctorate degree in mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her advanced research for her Ph.D. was about complex math ideas. Her professor who guided her research was Sylvia Wiegand.

Career and Research

Professor Eubanks-Turner has made history at Loyola Marymount University. She was the first African American to receive tenure in LMU's College of Science and Engineering. Getting tenure means she has a permanent teaching position. It shows how much the university values her work.

Her research focuses on two main areas. First, she studies the special math training that teachers need. This helps them teach math well to students in college and high school. She also looks at how to make math education fair for everyone. She believes in teaching math in a way that supports the whole student.

Second, her research includes advanced math topics. These include graph theory, which is about networks and connections. She also studies commutative algebra, which is a branch of abstract algebra.

Selected Publications

Professor Eubanks-Turner has written many important papers. These papers share her research with other mathematicians and educators. Here are a few examples:

• C. Eubanks-Turner, A. Li, Interlace Polynomials of Friendship Graphs, Electronic Journal of Graph Theory and Applications, Vol. 6 (2), (2018), 269–281.
• D. Berube, C. Eubanks-Turner, E. Mosteig, T. Zachariah, A Tale of Two Programs: Broadening Participation of Underrepresented Students in STEM at Loyola Marymount University, Journal of Research in STEM Education, Vol. 4(1), (2018), 13–22.
• B. Baker Swart, K. Beck, S. Crook, C. Eubanks-Turner, H. Grundman, M. Mei, L. Zack, Fixed points of augmented generalized happy functions, Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 48(1), (2018), 47–58.
• C. Eubanks-Turner, P. Beaulieu, N. Pal, Smooth Transition for Advancement to Graduate Education (STAGE) for Underrepresented Groups in Mathematical Sciences Pilot Project: The Benefits and Challenges of Mentoring, PRIMUS, 28:2, (2018), 97–117.
• C. Eubanks-Turner, M. Lennon, E. Reynoso, B. Thibodeaux, A. Urquiza, A. Wheatley, D. Young, Using the Division Algorithm to Decode Reed-Solomon Codes, Journal of Shanghai Normal University (Natural Sciences) (2015), 44:3, 262–269.
• C. Eubanks-Turner, N. Hajj, Mardi Gras Math, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School (2015), 20:8, 494–498.
• C. Eubanks-Turner, A. Li, Graphical Properties of the Bipartite Graph of Spec(Z[x])\{0}, Journal of Algebra Combinatorics, Discrete Structures and Applications (2015), 2:1, 65–73.
• E. Celikbas, C. Eubanks-Turner, S. Wiegand, Prime Ideals in Power Series Rings and Polynomial Rings over Noetherian Domains, Recent Advances in Commutative Rings, Integer-Valued Polynomials, and Polynomial Functions, Springer (2014), 55–82.