Omar Davila Jr. received his Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley. His research examines the nexus of education policy, political discourse, and the social construction of merit. More specifically, he investigates how social inequality is reproduced and resisted; how political ideologies shape academic contexts; and how to reimagine education to serve a transformative end. His work received financial support from UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, and the Center for Latino Policy Research. He was previously a McNair Scholar at California State University-Monterey Bay, and a visiting scholar at Michigan State University and Yale University.

At SCU, he serves as Director of the Future Teachers Project (FTP) and teaches various courses in Child Studies, including Urban Education & Multiculturalism, Qualitative Research Methods, and the FTP Seminar.