West LA Times

Dr. Roger Billings speaks from personal experience when discussing the attributes of the International Academy of Science, which develops Acellus courses for students in grades kindergarten to 12.

Billings is one of the first two graduates of the school, having taken four years to earn a doctorate with a DR degree, which stands for Doctor of Research and Innovation. While the school has come under criticism because it is not accredited, Billings believes the results speak for itself.

“The thing we are not willing to do is teach like they do and give their Ph.D degree,” Billings said in a video presentation. “Our mission is the DR degree.”

It has been quite a journey to reach this point with a teaching tree extending back to some of the greatest minds in American history. It began with Billings’ desire for an education.

“I went to the university wanting a broad degree,” Billings said in a presentation, “So I studied chemistry, physics, electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering. And I received a bachelor’s degree from the university in those composite fields. Right at the end of my university experience I had the wonderful privilege of meeting Mr. Bill Lear, the person well-known for inventing the Lear jet. Mr. Lear was looking, he said, for a protégé. Someone to come and be mentored by him.”

It changed Billings’ life as he was on a plane with Lear and learned how to conduct and apply research. He would eventually strike out on his own, starting his own company using his education and experience from working with Lear. The company succeeded. He eventually took it public and sold it with the idea of spending his life giving back to society.

That path virtually mirrored the path Lear followed after learning from Thomas Edison, he said.

“He explained Thomas Edison had taught him how to take his knowledge, his energy, his quest to be successful in technology and turn it into a business,” Billings said.

It set the foundation for the fruits of a chance meeting with two men from England. He met Dr. Michael Laughton and Dr. Geoffrey Pardoe who had a different vision for education that resonated with Billings.

“They were telling me they thought the time had come for education to develop a whole new philosophy or a whole new program because we needed to train people to be innovators,” Billings said. “Of course I immediately picked up on this because I realized how much Bill Lear’s training had meant to me in a way very different than my conventional university degree.” 

The vision which came to fruition was creating a program at the doctorate level. Billings recalled thinking of a program resembling Lear's, but with a caveat.

“If we are going to do this program, I want to go through it,” he said. “You guys are doctors and I’m not. I want to earn my doctorate and I want to earn this new kind of doctorate.” 

The program has proven successful. Much like Lear to Edison and Billings to Lear, there was no charge for the mentorships and there is no charge for tuition. The program leans on several key principals, including divergent thinking, insatiable curiosity, infectious passion, stamina, compelling leadership, respect for other innovators and courage.

“The industrial revolution happened because craftsmen-inventors – it did not spring from the minds of university-educated people,” Laughton was quoted as saying in the presentation. “For too long we worshipped at the altar of paper qualifications to the exclusion of a wider view. We must recognize the enormous value of the true innovator in effecting the technical changes in society.” 

Despite not being accredited, Billings argues the worth of the International Academy of Science DR degree is as valuable in practical terms. The value of the degree itself is evident in what happens upon program completion.

“All of our graduates are working in their fields,” Billings said in the presentation. “Over half of the graduates in other programs cannot find work in their field, and I think that says something.”