Kelly Billings

UC Berkeley
Doctoral Student
kelly_billings@berkeley.edu 

Kelly is a first-year doctoral student at the University of California- Berkeley. As a former science teacher in Oakland, Kelly’s work is deeply informed by her teaching experience and former students. Her research interests include STEM teacher education, science curriculum development, and teaching science through a critical lens. Kelly received a B.S in Environmental Studies from the University of Southern California and her teaching credential from Loyola Marymount University. She then taught in the Oakland Unified School district for four years, and in the second half of her teaching career served as science department lead and a mentor teacher. She continues to support new teachers in her former district as a coach. Kelly currently works as a graduate student researcher on a project focusing on anti-racist science teaching and is particularly interested in how teachers navigate teaching complex socio-scientific issues such as environmental racism and health inequity. She is also interested in how teachers reflect on student learning and empowerment while teaching these complex issues.