Yakov Epstein

Title: Professor I
Areas: Social Psychology/Clinical Psychology
Phone: 732-445-5719
Email: yepstein@rci.rutgers.edu, yakov.epstein@gmail.com
Fax: 732-445-3477
Campus: Busch
Building: Service and Engineering Resource Center 237
Websites: cmsce.rutgers.edu and www.metromath.org

I received my Ph.D. in 1968 from Columbia University and have been on the Rutgers faculty since 1967. I am a member of the social and clinical areas. My research focuses on how couples and individuals cope with the stress of infertility. I am particularly interested in how couples and individuals cope with the option of using an oocyte donor when a woman is unable to conceive using her own eggs. My work focuses on archetypes of egg recipients (such as persons choosing this option because of a medical problem like ovaries damaged through chemotherapy, or persons experiencing secondary infertility, or single women, or young women experiencing premature ovarian failure) and examines how these various life circumstances impact the decision to use a donor, and the decision to disclose to the child and to others about the nature of the conception. I am conducting a long-term study of persons who conceived children through egg donation and examining the impact of this choice on family life and identity.

Most of my time is spent in my role as Director of the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education. This Center is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of mathematics and science, and of finding ways to effectively infuse technology into teaching and learning from pre-K through college. A major component of our Center is our NSF MetroMath Center for Teaching and Learning Mathematics in America's cities. I am involved in several MetroMath research projects. I direct a project exploring the role of parents and caregivers of urban low-income children in helping their children learn mathematics. I am also involved in a research project investigating the role of affect in learning conceptually challenging mathematics in urban classrooms.