Dr. Charles Wilkes II is a graduate of Morehouse College where he earned a B.S. in Mathematics. He earned his M.A.T. and PhD at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has experience developing and facilitating professional development in K-12 and higher education contexts. His research interests focus on the teaching and learning of Black learners and more broadly teacher beliefs, knowledge, and practice that attend to content and equity. His recent work focuses on how Black learners conceptualize smartness in mathematics classroom, how teachers communicate smartness implicitly and explicitly through their practices, and how teachers build relationships with students through mathematical content.