Kristen Grauer-Gray
Education
Kristen Grauer-Gray served as a Peace Corps Response volunteer in Liberia from 2016-17 and 2018-20. During her first term of service, she taught chemistry and education courses at Nimba County Community College in Sanniquellie (now Nimba County University College). She also organized the college science lab, wrote a lab manual for chemistry classes, and lost innumerable Scrabble games to her Liberian counterpart.
During her second term of service, Kristen lived in Tubmanburg and Monrovia. She trained science teachers around Liberia to conduct hands-on experiments using local materials, while also helping the Catholic school system to improve school science labs and train science teachers. Kristen is an inveterate packrat and believes that most discarded objects are actually science experiments waiting to happen. One of her favorite projects as a Peace Corps volunteer was writing a book of experiments that only use materials available in Liberian towns.
Kristen began teaching science as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania from 2007-2010. In addition to her time in Liberia, she has taught chemistry and biology at a rural Tanzanian school, an international school in Dar es Salaam, and a high school in Mississippi. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and masters degrees in both education (curriculum and development) and environmental biology. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, gardening, and learning new languages.