Ricela Feliciano-Semidei, PhD

Book Release

About Me

 Dr. Ricela Feliciano-Semidei is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Northern Illinois University. She is also a U.S. Fulbright Scholar and a Faculty Associate of the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies. Her research connecting students’ life experiences to the teaching of mathematics. Dr. Feliciano earned a Fulbright U.S. Scholar 2022-2023 award for her project on Rural-Community Based Pedagogies to Teach Mathematics. This project involved facilitating workshops for mathematics teachers and exploring how they used funds of knowledge and ethnomathematics to teach secondary mathematics in Caribbean rural schools in Colombia. 

Additionally, Dr. Feliciano is a member of the Research Center for the Teaching and Learning of Calculus. In this project, she studies how to incorporate students’ diverse experiences and perspectives into calculus teaching with the goal of enhancing more equitable learning experiences in STEM. She is also part of the Women in STEM Education Network (WiSEN) focusing on nontraditional mentoring approaches for women in STEM. 

Dr. Feliciano's work has been published in the Revista Colombiana de Educación, Revista de Educación de Puerto Rico, and Linguistics and Education. She is also the editor of the book Caminatas Comunitarias para la Enseñanza de las Matemáticas: Un Enfoque Rural (Feliciano-Semidei, Palencia, & Cervantes Barraza, 2024).

Active Research Projects

Refereed Publications

1.  Feliciano-Semidei, R., & Palencia, K. A. (2025). Contexto rural del caribe colombiano descrito por docentes de matemáticas de secundaria. Revista Colombiana de Educación, 95. https://doi.org/10.17227/rce.num95-19016.

2. Feliciano-Semidei, R. (2024). Mathematics achievement of students in Puerto Rico and the use of computer software to do mathematics. Revista de Educación de Puerto Rico (REDUCA) [Puerto Rico Journal of Education]. (Accepted)

3. Feliciano-Semidei, R., Palencia, K. A. & Bustillo-Zárate, A. (2024). An exploration of human factors that influence the acceptance of technology in calculus students. Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference on Research in Mathematics Undergraduate Education. http://sigmaa.maa.org/rume/Site/Proceedings.html

4. Feliciano-Semidei, R., Ricklefs, M. A., Rocha Fontalvo, Y. A., Palencia Infante, K. A., & Beltrán Hoyos, R. A. (2023). Preparing secondary mathematics preservice teachers for rural schools in Colombia. The International Journal of Science, Mathematics,& Technology Learning, 30(2), 83-99. https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allfaculty-peerpub/1148/

5. Feliciano-Semidei, R., Wu, K., & Chaphalkar, R. M. (2022). Introducing conditional probability using the Monty Hall problem. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 19(2), 93-109. https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allfaculty-peerpub/1150/ 

6. Feliciano-Semidei, R., & Ricklefs, M. A. (Winter 2021). Strategies for modifying word problems for English learners. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 50 (1), 3-9. https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allfaculty-peerpub/1149/ 

7. Renga, I.P., Peck, F., Feliciano-Semidei, R., Erickson, D., & Wu, K. (2020). Doing math and talking school: Professional talk as producing hybridity in teacher identity and community. Linguistics and Education, 55, 100766. https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/niubib/501/ 

8. Feliciano-Semidei, R., Ricklefs, M. A., Rocha Fontalvo, Y. A., Palencia Infante, K. A., & Beltrán Hoyos, R. A. (2020). Usando fondos de conocimiento comunitario y derechos básicos de aprendizaje para escribir problemas verbales. Proceedings of the 5to Encuentro Internacional de Investigación en Educación Matemática. Barranquilla, Colombia. https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allfaculty-peerpub/1130/

9. Peck, F. A., Erickson, D., Feliciano-Semidei, R., Renga, I. P., Roscoe, M.B., & Wu, K. (2017). Negotiating the essential tension of teacher communities in a statewide math teachers’ circle. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Indianapolis, IN. https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allfaculty-peerpub/1129/

10. Feliciano-Semidei, R., & Roscoe, M. (2017). Preservice teachers exploring prime factorization. In T. A. Olson & L. Venenciano (Eds.), Proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning (RCML). Fort Worth, TX. https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allfaculty-peerpub/1128/

11. Wu, K. & Feliciano-Semidei, R. (2017, May 31). Book Review [Review of the book The Mathematics Education of Elementary Teachers: Issues and Strategies for Content Courses, by L. C. Hart, S. Oesterle, S. S. Auslander, & A. Kajander (Eds.)]. Teachers College Record. https://journals.sagepub.com/page/tcz/collections/bookreviews_2022  

Refereed Presentations

1. Feliciano-Semidei, R. (2024). Caminatas comunitarias for teaching math in Colombian secondary rural schools [Conference presentation]. Illinois Session MAA (ISMAA). Bradley University, Peoria, IL.  

2. Duncan, B., Palencia, K., Feliciano-Semidei, R. Bustillo Zárate, A., & Wu, K. (2024). First generation calculus students’ beliefs [Poster Presentation]. 26th Annual Conference on Research in Mathematics Undergraduate Education. Omaha, NE.

3. Bustillo, A., Palencia, K. A., & Feliciano-Semidei, R. (2023a). Creencias de los estudiantes de cálculo: un estudio inicial [Conference Presentation]. Interuniversity Seminar on Research in the Mathematical Sciences XXXVIII (SIDIM). Mayagüez, PR.

4. Bustillo,A.,Palencia,K.A.,&Feliciano-Semidei,R.(2023b).Students’perspectives about learning and relevance of calculus [Conference presentation - Session: Improving DEI in departments and programs, examples and case studies]. Math Fest 2023. Tampa, FL.

5. Palencia Infante, K. A., Feliciano-Semidei, R. & Bustillo, A. (2023a). Students’ perspectives about the use of technology in calculus classes [Conference presentation - Session: Research on undergraduate mathematics education]. Math Fest 2023. Tampa, FL.

6. Palencia Infante, K. A., Feliciano-Semidei, R. & Bustillo, A. (2023b). The learning of calculus considering student’s view of relevancy and use of technology [Conference presentation]. Conference on Diversity, Equity, and Student Success - American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Henderson, NV.

7. Feliciano-Semidei, R., & Palencia, K. A. (2023). Rural school teachers writing culturally relevant lesson plans. Michigan Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (MI-AMTE) Conversations Among Colleagues, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan. https://www.gvsu.edu/mathinaction/cac-program-2023-18.htm

8. Aragón, A., Esnard, T., Beck, M., Feliciano-Semidei, R., Cadwell, J., Wu, K., Howard, M., Wargo, L., Cobb-Roberts, D., Dickerson, M., & Kern, A. (2023). WiSEN - Charting a course forward in the pursuit of women’s consequential truths in mentoring [Conference presentation-Session: Mentoring approaches that disrupt assumed truths among women leaders]. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL.

9. Rupnow, R. & Feliciano-Semidei, R. (2023). Students’ use of resources for undergraduate mathematics coursework [Poster Presentation]. AERA, Chicago, IL.

10. Feliciano-Semidei, R., Ricklefs, M. A., Palencia, K. A., & Rocha Fontalvo, Y.A. (2022). Perspectiva de docentes de secundaria a una educación matemática pertinente. [Conference presentation] 6to Encuentro Internacional de Investigación en Educación Matemática. Barranquilla, Colombia. https://repositorio.uniatlantico.edu.co/handle/20.500.12834/1124 

11. Beck, M., Cadwell, J., Wu, K., Kern, A., Esnard, T., Cobb-Roberts, D., Dickerson, M., Aragon, A., Howard, M. & Feliciano-Semidei, R. (2022). WiSEN - Exploring an intercultural mentoring framework for minoritized women in STEM [Conference presentation]. AERA, San Diego, CA.

12. Feliciano-Semidei, R., Ricklefs, M. A., & Rocha Fontalvo, Y. A. (2021). Using community funds of knowledge to write mathematical problems. [Conference presentation] National Council for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM) 2021 Research Conference, virtual.

13. Feliciano-Semidei, R., Ricklefs, M. A., & Rocha Fontalvo, Y. A. (2021). Mathematics teacher candidates and rural education: A Colombian case study, [Conference presentation]. AERA, virtual.

14. Peck, F. A., Erickson, D., Feliciano-Semidei, R., Renga, I. P., & Wu, K. (2018). What does it mean to do math in a math teachers’ circle? [Conference presentation]. 2018 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Research Conference, Washington, DC.

15. Feliciano-Semidei, R. & Lorenzo, E. (2013) Application of principal component for the development of social, economic and educative indexes for the classification of the municipalities of Puerto Rico [Poster presentation]. 2013 SACNAS Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX.  

Get in touch at ricela[at]niu[dot]edu

Availability for meetings: https://ricela.youcanbook.me/