About Plaut Pedagogy
Plaut Pedagogy, LLC was founded by Dr. Conrad Plaut in 2025 in order to share his new textbook and Immersive Exercises that he developed for teaching linear algebra to college students. After successful trial runs in university classrooms, Dr. Plaut saw great potential for the combined textbook and accompanying software, and he continued collaborating with software engineering partners to make the software available via the Math Atlas platform. On July 8, 2026, Plaut Pedagogy was awarded an NSF-SBIR grant to develop Immersive Exercises for calculus.
Dr. Conrad Plaut is CEO of Plaut Pedagogy, and a mathematics professor and former department head at the University of Tennessee. He earned his BA from Guilford College in Mathematics and English, after which he accepted a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Zagreb, Croatia. Plaut earned his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Maryland. At the University of Tennessee he has taught more than two dozen different courses, from freshman calculus to graduate topics courses. As a professor and CEO of Plaut Pedagogy, Dr. Plaut has been awarded over $2 million in grants and awards, primarily from the National Science Foundation, to support his mathematical research, pedagogical software development, conferences he has co-organized, and programs he has organized for students. The latter include a scholarship program for students from the Appalachian region majoring in math and computer science, a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, and the University of Tennessee Math Honors Program, for which he served as founding director. Plaut has given around 70 research talks in 11 countries, and has over 700 citations to his research papers (source: Google Scholar).
Dr. Plaut’s extensive experience teaching mathematics provides the expertise needed to integrate new technologies into learning high-level mathematics. He understands the value of traditional approaches as well as the benefits that modernizing practices can bring.
Dr. Jeneva Clark is the Teacher Liaison and Lead Pedagogical Researcher for Plaut Pedagogy, and is a mathematics Teaching Professor at The University of Tennessee. Jeneva holds a PhD in teacher education with an emphasis in mathematics education, and a Master’s in mathematics. Jeneva has mentored many students in teaching mathematics and researching learning. She teaches math, advises future teachers, mentors faculty, and provides professional development for instructors.
Drawing from her own experience as a high school math teacher who taught dual enrollment calculus and pre-calculus, Jeneva seeks to broaden accessibility to calculus-based college-readiness resources through this project. Jeneva’s past grant-funded work has focused on providing professional development to mathematics instructors. Jeneva has been involved in 15 funded grants, serving as principal investigator on nine. Jeneva’s past research has focused on how students learn calculus from errors and how student perceptions about mathematical relevance are impacted by pedagogy.
Along with many grants, Jeneva has received other honors such as the 2023 MAA-SE Section Distinguished Teaching Award, the 2025 UTK College of Arts and Sciences Diversity Leadership Award, and the 2019 UTK College of Art and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award. Additional efforts have included extensive work in conducting educational program evaluations, and serving as a consultant for multiple institutions and for SACSCOC.
Dr. Elise Weir serves as the Lead Software Engineer for Plaut Pedagogy. She holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Tennessee and brings a decade of higher education teaching experience, ranging from college algebra to upper-division undergraduate courses, with a primary focus on calculus. Following postdoctoral positions at UT Knoxville and UC Santa Barbara, she spent over five years as a full-stack developer in a large enterprise environment. Dr. Weir’s background as a mathematician, educator, and software engineer positions her well to lead the development and implementation of Plaut Pedagogy's Immersive Exercises.
Amanda Simonds Brannock serves as UI/UX Designer for Plaut Pedagogy, where she brings together a background in art, education, and digital product design. She graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art and taught elementary art for several years before becoming certified in UI Design and Development at University of Denver. In the technology field, she has worked in design and development for both large tech companies and small projects, including The Superintendent Lab, a grant-funded research project focused on school superintendents. Amanda's eye for visual communication and her classroom experience shape her approach to creating engaging learning opportunities for students as well as teaching systems for teachers.
Betsy Saylor-Plaut serves as Director of Communications for Plaut Pedagogy, where she combines expertise in education, communications, and student support. She holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Maryland and an MS in Communications from the University of Tennessee. Betsy has spent more than a decade teaching college composition and tutoring students in writing, along with over ten years in communications and public funding compliance roles for nonprofit and higher education organizations. Her passion for helping students succeed and her interest in the intersection of technology and learning complement Plaut Pedagogy's mission of advancing innovative approaches to math education.