UCLA-HBCU Initiative​
Summer Training for Excellence in Education Research
Summer 2023
STEER Staff and Program Coordinators
Brande M. Otis is a PhD student in Urban Schooling at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Under the advisement of Dr. Robert Cooper, Brande's research interest includes anti-blackness in special education, IEP politics, Black joy and refusal, and equity.
Prior to continuing her education at UCLA, Brande received a Masters of Arts degree in School Psychology, and an Education Specialist degree in Educational Psychology from Chapman University. She practiced psychology in the Long Beach Unified School District, where she advocated with and for students with disabilities.
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This is her third year serving as the Program Coordinator for the STEER Program.
Brande M. Otis, MA, Ed.S,
Program Coordinator
Symone Gyles is a fourth year PhD candidate in the Urban Schooling division of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Under the mentorship of her advisor, Dr. Kimberley Gomez, broadly Symone is interested in equity in science education for Black and Latinx students through reframing of ideas of what is scientific knowledge and who holds that knowledge. Specifically, Symone's research focuses on how community-based science practices, with a focus on local issues of environmental and social justice, can be used to elicit students funds of knowledge in classroom contexts, and create greater connections between canonical school science content, and students' everyday lives. Through the use of co-design methods, Symone works with a science teacher to develop curriculum and pedagogical practices that center the lives of the students, their experiences, and their understandings, as a means to teach school science content.
Prior to coming to UCLA, Symone earned her B.S. in Marine and Environmental Science at Hampton University, and then went on to teach 7th grade science in Hampton, VA. Her research is rooted in her love and compassion for her students, and a deep desire to transform how science education is taught to Black and Brown students.