Dr. Dawn Ring

Dawn Ring’s love of the ocean is part of what drew her to mathematics. She wanted to understand ocean dynamics, and that curiosity led her into the study of mathematics and fluid dynamics. She enjoys helping students use math to make sense of the world and appreciate it for its own sake.

She particularly enjoys one-on-one and small-group teaching. A shared whiteboard is central to her online sessions: she can bring a problem onto the screen, annotate it and invite the student to work on it with her. Her approach combines encouragement with mathematical challenge, and she values collaboration and detailed feedback with the people supporting a student’s education.

Dawn has extensive experience supporting neurodivergent learners, including students with ADHD, autism, dyslexia and executive-function challenges. She is drawn both to students who have found mathematics difficult and to motivated learners ready for a greater challenge. Creating a comfortable, collaborative environment is an important part of how she approaches that work.

Her background spans mathematics, science and music. She earned master’s degrees in mathematics from the University of Washington and Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics from Johns Hopkins. She also taught as an assistant professor of mathematics at Wentworth Institute of Technology before choosing to focus more on individual and small-group teaching.

Outside teaching, Dawn plays classical violin and fiddle and has studied Dhrupad, a form of North Indian music. She is interested in Hindu philosophy and its connections with music, as well as tortoises and iguanas. She also enjoys hiking, bodyboarding and Rummikube. Her favorite cuisine is Indian.