Brian Williams

Professional Title
Clinical Professor
Organization/Institution
About Me (Bio)
Dr. Brain Williams has over 20 years of experience working in schools and other educational communities. His work is situated at the intersection of science education, urban education, and education for social justice. More specifically, he is interested in the ways in which equity issues related to race, ethnicity, culture, and class influence science teaching and learning and access to science literacy. He currently serves as Director of the Alonzo A Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence and a Clinical Professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education in the College of Education at Georgia State Education in Atlanta, Georgia. Before joining the faculty at Georgia State University, Dr. Williams coordinated the Math/Science Equity Program (MSEP) at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The program examined the link between parental involvement and the tracking of African American students in science. His work has been published in Democracy and Education, School and Community Journal, Negro Ed Review, and International Journal of Social Research Methodology. In addition to his research, Dr. Williams has over 20 years of experience working with teachers and student in science education. He has taught science methods and content courses to K- 12 teachers in the United States and other countries around the world. In addition to his work with teachers, he has also developed science and mathematics curricula, served as an educational adviser to various schools and professional organizations, and taught science to both middle and elementary school students. Because of his extensive work in the fields of science and education, Dr. Williams has also served as a consultant to organizations such the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Educational Development Center (EDC), and Quality Education for Minorities (QEM). Dr. Williams holds degrees from Emory University (Ph.D., 2003), Georgia Institute of Technology (M.S., 1996), and Norfolk State University (B.S., 1994). He is also a Former Ford Foundation Fellow and Spencer Fellow.
Georgia State University (GSU)
05/01/2020

This project aims to expand opportunities for elementary science in Title 1 schools through the development, implementation, and evaluation of a professional development model that will prepare teachers to effectively utilize science education practices grounded in culturally responsive pedagogy. It provides a new science instruction model that intersects the best practices in science education with the theoretical principles of culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy found to influence students from low economic, diverse communities.

University of Connecticut (UConn)
08/01/2020

The purposes of this conference are to organize scholarly work about equity in science education and to broaden the set of scholars in science education who have equity as a focus.