Karen Flammer, Ph.D.

Dr. Flammer is the Director of Digital Learning in the Teaching and Learning Commons. Motivated to increase equitable access to high quality education using digital technologies, she oversees the development of robust online learning programs serving a wide audience; high school students, undergraduate and graduate students and professional learners.

Dr. Karen Flammer has worked in higher education for over thirty years. She has extensive experience directing and managing large-scale education programs, applying digital learning pedagogies for inclusive learning, and collaborating with diverse audiences.

Dr. Flammer received her PhD in Applied Physics at UC San Diego, and spent the first 20 years of her career as a research physicist and lecturer. During this time, she developed a passion for increasing diversity in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). She served as the Principal Investigator for a NASA funded K-16 STEM engagement program: EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students) that reached close to one million K-12 students from all over the world. In 2001, she co-founded Sally Ride Science Inc., a STEM education technology company dedicated to promoting STEM literacy and narrowing the STEM gender and racial gap. Dr. Flammer created and directed the Sally Ride Science Academy, a robust K-12 teacher professional development program on strategies to diversify the STEM pipeline. In 2015 she supported the transition of Sally Ride Science Inc. to a non-profit entity based at UC San Diego while also assuming the role of Director of Education, Outreach and Training at the San Diego Supercomputer Center and Principal Investigator for an NSF grant to support computer science education in San Diego public school districts.  In 2018, she joined the Teaching and Learning Commons as the Director of Digital Learning.