Lina is an educator and a writer.
Lina Chopra Haldar is a math educator, a woman of color in STEM, and a children’s book author. She began her career in New York City, where she completed a B.S. in Operations Research and an M.A. in Mathematics Education at Columbia University. As she soaked up the vibrant culture and stories of New York City, she worked as an investment banker and then as a high school math teacher. Lina’s passion for math education grew as she spent time in the classroom and worked with a diverse student population. She especially enjoyed conducting cognitive interviews with students to gain insights into their thinking. That passion brought her to California, where she completed her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley.
Since completing her Ph.D. in 2014, Lina has worked as a postdoctoral scholar at UC Berkeley and held various research, evaluation, and curriculum development positions. She is particularly passionate about writing fiction and nonfiction children’s books that engage young learners with STEM in imaginative ways. She focuses on math and believes that educators, parents, and kids alike need more books that introduce mathematical ideas in silly and engaging ways. Math is a beautiful and universal language that all children can engage with, and she writes stories that highlight the wonders of math in meaningful and accessible ways, while easing some of the math anxiety many kids face.
Lina used to consider herself a New Yorker, but after 18 years in the Bay Area, she now calls Berkeley her home. She lives there with her husband, two children, and Elvis, their parti poodle and king of the pack. Though she still misses a good New York slice, she finds comfort at The Cheese Board, where she can linger outside with a delicious treat as she dreams up her next story.