Dr. Christopher Kribs

Christopher Kribs is Distinguished Teaching Professor and Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Texas at Arlington. He holds bachelors degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics from Duke University (where he was elected to honor societies Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, and Eta Kappa Nu), a MSEE in digital signal processing from Georgia Tech (becoming the first student to complete a degree at Georgia Tech Lorraine in France), and a masters and doctorate in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where he was elected to Sigma Xi and served as a Letters and Sciences Teaching Fellow. He has served on the UTA faculty since 1997, as director of the graduate program in K-8 mathematics education since 2005, and on UTA's Academy of Distinguished Teachers and Academy of Distinguished Scholars since 2017. His work experience also includes research at Texas Instruments, where he obtained a patent for modeling of human speech, and teaching high school mathematics and science to Native American students. His teaching was recognized with a 2016 University of Texas System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award, as well as more locally with the 2008 Chancellor's Council Award for Innovation in Teaching Award, the 2017 President's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the 2004 Mejor Docente award from the Universidad de Colima Facultad de Ciencias.

His research spans the fields of mathematical biology and mathematics education, including over 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals and a recent textbook on the use of dynamical systems to model biological populations.

Within mathematical biology, his interests lie at the intersection of mathematical epidemiology and ecology, and for the past 15 years have focused on modeling the sylvatic transmission of the vector-borne parasite Trypanosoma cruzi which causes Chagas' disease, and on neglected vector-borne diseases more broadly. He also studies applications of epidemiological modeling techniques to sociological phenomena such as eating disorders in a college population, grassroots political movements, and cooperative learning environments.

Within mathematics education, his interests include the teaching and learning of measurement and operations on rational numbers by K-8 students and their teachers (including pre-service teachers).

His research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and NHARP, and recognized by a Fulbright-Garcia Robles Fellowship, a Marie Curie Fellowship, the 2010 Prix Sanofi-Pasteur, and locally by the 2016 UT Arlington Distinguished Record of Research Award. He has been invited to give talks in Mexico, Canada, El Salvador, Colombia, England, France, Spain, Brazil, Algeria, and South Africa, as well as across the US. Since 1999 he has mentored student researchers from historically underrepresented groups through Arizona State University's Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute (MTBI).