Kimberley Cousins obtained her B.S. in Chemistry in 1984 from Duke University and a Ph.D. (organic chemistry) in 1991 from the University of Texas at Austin. She was a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teaching-Research Fellow (1989-90) at Hendrix College, Conway Arkansas. In 1991 she was a lecturer at Southwestern University (Georgetown, Texas) and Austin Community College (Austin, Texas). Dr. Cousins has been at CSUSB since 1991.

Dr. Cousins research interests are in the areas of computational organic materials science, green organic synthetic methodology, physical organic chemistry, computational organic chemistry, and chemical education. Current projects include the development of a greener synthesis of carpanone, and computational modeling of ferroelectric organic materials. While at CSUSB, Cousins has authored or co-authored proposals that have been awarded nearly $20,000,000 from public and private agencies. She is currently serving as PI of the NSF-STEM Transfer Success Program, and a co-PI for research grants from the NSF-CREST program. Cousins has taken an active role in Departmental and University Affairs, including serving for nearly 8 years on the Faculty Senate (three on the executive committee), and has served on, and chaired, a number of departmental, college, and university committees.