Tesha Sengupta-Irving is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education and the Learning Sciences in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development.  Dr. Sengupta-Irving’s work concerns the social, cultural, and political nature of STEM education in the lives of minoritized youth.  Her work problematizes the practices, policies, and rhetoric that conscript mathematics into the neoliberal racial project of public education and pivots toward a humanistic understanding of how mathematics could work in children’s lives. In collaboration with teachers, her work identifies design principles for learning environments that distribute authority, advance disciplinary engagement, promote interest, and cultivate community among youth.