She joined the California State University, Fullerton faculty in 2006 after completing her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her research interests focuses on examining epistemological and ontological beliefs, exploring civics education through active citizenship projects and investigating effective mathematics instruction. Dr. Vander Veldt is a member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), and the Northern Rocky Mountain Education Research Association (NRMERA).