People

Any of our directors or other volunteers may be contacted by emailing info@mappmath.org.

2023-24 Leadership Team

Director of Mathematics and Executive Director

Dr. Braxton Carrigan, Professor of Mathematics at Southern Connecticut State University, is co-author of the Inquiry-Based Learning textbook Investigating Discrete Mathematics. Dr. Carrigan has traveled the country and world promoting mathematics through puzzles, including serving several mathematics camps in Australia. This experience led to a partnership with Dr. Clontz to co-found the the world’s first mathematical puzzlehunt competition, the A.M.P.’d Challenge, at Auburn University in 2012. Dr. Carrigan is a professional development organizer and presenter for the GeoGebra Institute of Southern Connecticut, served on the organizational team for New Haven Math County Math Teacher Circles, and received a MAA-DMEG grant supporting the MaPP Challenge at SCSU.

As an instructor of many pre-service teachers at his university, Dr. Carrigan utilizes mathematical puzzles in the classroom as an introduction to studying theoretical mathematics.

Director of Games

Dr. Andrew Owens, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Widener University, became a co-coordinator for A.M.P.'d challenge in the summer of 2013 and helped lead the program after the original creators graduated. Dr. Owens has experience participating in math puzzle competitions since 2006 including the Microsoft Puzzle Challenge.  He has also taught mathematics at the middle school and high school level and wants to bring exciting math puzzles to these students who would otherwise not have the opportunity.

Director of Research

Dr. Younhee Lee, Assistant Professor at Southern Connecticut State University, is a mathematics educator who is deeply interested in the connection between secondary school mathematics and collegiate mathematics. She has joined MaPP in 2020 and is excited to help students to gain authentic and unique mathematical experiences in MaPP.  Dr. Lee is also a project NExT fellow of MAA (Mathematical Association of America) and enjoys teaching both mathematics and mathematics education courses. 

Director of Outreach

Dr. Cadavious M. Jones received his BS in 2006 and MS in 2008 from Alabama State University with a PhD in Mathematics from Auburn University in 2014. He is a contributor to the Australian Maths Trust, member of the MASAMU international research group for mathematics, and a staunch supporter of promoting mathematics and statistics awareness. Dr. Jones is Chair of the MGM BEST Hub committee and Director of the MGM BEST Robotics Competition, Chair of the ASU Lyceum Committee, advisor to the ASUBotics Club, member of the ASU Science Olympiad committee, and reviewer for several mathematics journals including the Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computing, JAMC and Associate Editor for the JGEU journal. His research interests include robotics and combinatorics.  

The highlight of his career has been STEM outreach and facilitation which includes mentoring local high school students to encourage them into various STEM fields to his ongoing participation in global math camps thereby connecting countries such as the United States, Australia, Wales, Japan and Africa. Much of Dr. Jones's efforts come from a desire to see greater diversity in STEM and a joy of working with young minds whether that be in the American Black Belt or the Australian Outback.

Director of Community

Dr. Abby Noble, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Middle Georgia State University, experienced her first puzzle competition as a volunteer at the inaugural A.M.P.’d challenge at Auburn University. Once MaPP Challenge was created, she jumped at the chance to bring the event to her community and has been a campus director since 2017. Participation in MaPP Challenge at MGA grew from three teams in its first year to twenty teams in its third year, and Dr. Noble has received multiple grants to run the event so that cost is not a barrier that keeps schools from attending. She is excited to serve MaPP as Director of Community and support other institutions in bringing MaPP Challenge to their campus.

Advisory Board

Campus Directors

MaPP relies on our enthusiastic network of campus directors who coordinate our events across the country. To learn more about these people, visit our Campuses page.

Steering Committee

MaPP was founded by Braxton Carrigan, Steven Clontz, and PJ Couch in 2015, based upon their work as graduate students organizing similar events at Auburn University. They are responsible for selecting the directors and advisory board members that serve the organization each academic year.