Dr. LaBrake is a mission-driven program development leader and award-winning educator with over 20 years of experience in growing educational and training programs from ideation through launch. She holds a PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from Loyola University Chicago and a BS in Chemistry with Honors from West Virginia University. Her extensive experience includes curriculum development, workforce-aligned micro-credentials, digital badging, and backward design, making her an invaluable addition to our team.

Dr. LaBrake’s recent role as the College of Natural Sciences (CNS) Badging Leadership Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin showcases her expertise in leading the development of governance structures to support the adoption of micro-credentials and digital badging within the undergraduate curriculum. She has led multi-institutional efforts to develop biotech micro-credentials aligned with workforce needs, securing significant funding to support these initiatives, including a $50K Texas Higher Education Workforce Micro-Credential Planning Grant and a $130K donor grant matched by UT System and CNS.

Her experience as a Professor of Instruction at UT Austin further underscores her commitment to educational excellence. She has led the redesign of degree plans and large enrollment courses to align with workforce demands, taught biochemistry and chemistry to thousands of students, and secured funding for innovative curriculum development projects