Nadia Kellam
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Phone: 480-727-1917
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PRLTA 330F MESA, AZ 85212
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Mail code: 2080Campus: Poly
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Nadia Kellam (she/they) is Professor of Engineering and the Undergraduate Program Chair for Engineering within The Polytechnic School (TPS) of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU). She also serves as Associate Director in TPS for the school. She is a faculty member in the Engineering Education Systems and Design (EESD) PhD program and currently advises three doctoral students. Trained as both an engineering education researcher and a mechanical engineer, Kellam’s scholarship examines the culture of engineering education, with particular attention to the experiences of marginalized undergraduate engineering students and educators.
A qualitative researcher, Kellam employs methods such as narrative research, arts-based approaches, and futures thinking to explore lived experiences in engineering. Her current projects investigate power and privilege in transdisciplinary faculty teams engaged in institutional change, the assets that engineering faculty with ADHD bring to their roles, gendered experiences in makerspaces among minoritized students, and teacher empathy.
Kellam is also deeply committed to curricular design and innovation. She developed design spines for environmental and mechanical engineering programs while a faculty member at the University of Georgia and contributed to the creation of the EESD PhD program at ASU. Her teaching portfolio spans undergraduate design and engineering science courses, as well as graduate courses in qualitative research methods.
Outside of academia, Kellam is an avid circus artist whose favorite discipline is flying trapeze. She flies and performs with the Roso Flyers in Chandler, Arizona, and also trains on silks and rope. She enjoys cycling and motorcycling, rock climbing, longboarding, roller skating, ceramics, gardening, and birdwatching. She shares her life with her partner, Robin, her 2 dogs, Kona and Tater, and her two cats, Shiloh and Stinky, and loves cooking curries and savoring delicious meals after days full of work and adventure.
Podcast Episodes:
- Square Peg Podcast: Breaking the Stereotype of "Perfect Professor"
- Engineering Education Research Briefs 2.0: Pushing the boundaries of "appropriate" research topics and methods with Dr. Nadia Kellam, Arizona State University
- Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina 2006. Dissertation: Embracing Complexity in Engineering Education
- M.E. Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina 2004
- B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina 2002
- B.S. Physics, minor: Math, College of Charleston 2002
Dr. Kellam leads a vibrant research team, the Dream Team, that includes Dr. Brooke Coley (assistant professor), Dr. Audrey Boklage (research scientist), Dr. Anna Cirell (postdoctoral scholar), and Eunsil Lee (Engineering Education Systems and Design PhD student). Drs. Coley and Boklage are integral parts of the research team and they have collaborated closely to work on previously funded projects and collaborated to secure two NSF-funded grants. These include a $600,000 NSF-funded grant to explore whether university-affiliated makerspaces, while in their infancy, are perpetuating the heteronormative cultures of engineering schools and departments. The second is a $400,000 NSF_funded grant to conduct a narrative inquiry with community college students from underrepresented groups with plans to transfer to four-year engineering programs. Recently Anna Cirell, a postdoctoral scholar, has also joined her team and is contributing to both of these projects and co-teaching the Qualitative Research Methods for Engineering Education course. Eunsil Lee is a PhD student in the Engineering Education Systems and Design program and is doing research to understand the impacts of international collaborations with international people from industry, the local community, and engineering students from a local university impacts the study abroad community service experiences of STEM students.
1) Walther, J., Sochacka, N., Benson, L., Bumbaco, A., Kellam, N., Pawley, A., and Philips, C. (Accepted, In Press) Qualitative research quality – a collaborative inquiry from multiple methodological perspectives. Journal of Engineering Education.
2) Cruz, J. & Kellam, N. (Accepted, In Press). Restructuring Structural Narrative Analysis Using Campbell's Monomyth to Understand Participant Narratives. Narrative Inquiry.
3) Guyotte, K., Sochacka, N., Costantino, T., Kellam, N., and Walther, J. (2015). Collaborative Creativity in STEAM: Narratives of Art Education Students’ Experiences in Transdisciplinary Spaces. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 16(15), 1-38.
4) Guyotte, K., Sochacka, N., Costantino, T., Walther, J. and Kellam, N. (2014). STEAM as Social Practice: Cultivating Creativity in Transdisciplinary Spaces. Art Education, 26(6), 12-19.
5) Costantino, T., Guyotte, K., Kellam, N. and Walther J. (2014). Seeing Experiences of Interdisciplinarity through Student Artwork: Exploring Different Approaches to Analysis. International Review of Qualitative Research, 7(2), 217-35.
6) Walther, J., N. Sochacka, and Kellam, N. (2013). Quality in interpretive engineering education research: Reflections on an Example Study. Journal of Engineering Education, 102(4), 626-59.
7) Kellam, N. N., Walther, J., Costantino, T., and Cramond, B. (2013). Integrating the Engineering Curriculum through the Synthesis and Design Studio. Advances in Engineering Education, 3(3), 1-33.
8) Gattie, D. K., Kellam, N. N., Schramski, J. R., & Walther, J. (2011). Engineering Education as a Complex System, European Journal of Engineering Education, 36(6), 521-35.
9) Walther, J., Kellam, N. N., Sochacka, N, & Radcliffe, D., (2011). Engineering competence? An interpretive investigation of engineering students’ professional formation, Journal of Engineering Education, 100(4), 703-40.
10) Costantino, T., Kellam, N. N., Cramond, B., & Crowder, I. (2010). An interdisciplinary design studio: How can art and engineering collaborate to increase students' creativity. Art Education, 63(2), 49-53.
11) Schramski, J. R., Patten, B. C., Kazanci, C., Gattie, D. K., & Kellam, N. N. (2009). The Reynolds transport theorem: Application to ecological compartment modeling and case study of ecosystem energetics. Ecological Modelling, 220(22), 3225-32.
12) Kelley, T., & Kellam, N. N. (2009). A theoretical framework to guide the re-engineering of technology education. Journal of Technology Education, 20(2), 36-48.
13) Kellam, N. N., Maher, M. A., & Peters, W. H. (2008). The faculty perspective on holistic and systems thinking in American and Australian Mechanical Engineering programmes. European Journal of Engineering Education, 33(1), 45-57.
14) Gattie, D. K., Kellam, N. N., & Turk, H. J. (2007). Informing Ecological Engineering through Ecological Network Analysis, Ecological Modelling, and Concepts of Systems and Engineering Ecology. Ecological Modelling, 208(1), 25-40.
15) Kellam, N. N., Maher, M., Russell, J., Addison, V., & Peters, W. H. (2007). Benchmarking the Integration of Complex Systems Study in Mechanical Engineering Programs in the Southeastern United States. The International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education, 35(3), 256-70.
16) Donath, L., Spray, R., Thompson, N. S., Alford, E. M., Kellam, N. N., & Matthews, M. A. (2005). Characterizing Discourse among Undergraduate Researchers in an Inquiry-Based Community of Practice. Journal of Engineering Education, 94(4), 403-17.
Since Dr. Kellam joined ASU in Fall 2014, the following are her funded research projects:
2017-20 The untapped community: Community colleges as an opportunity to broaden participation in engineering, Nadia Kellam (PI), Brooke Coley (co-PI), & Audrey Boklage (senior personnel), 100%, $399,388, NSF# 1733716.
2016-19 Value through the Voices: Exploring Making and its Impact on Engineering Identity Formation of Underrepresented Groups, National Science Foundation, Nadia Kellam (PI), Brooke Coley (co-PI), & Audrey Boklage (senior personnel), 100%, $599,905, NSF# 1636475.
2015-20 IUSE/PFE: RED: Additive Innovation: An Educational Ecosystem of Making and Risk Taking, National Science Foundation, *Ann McKenna, Nadia Kellam, Micah Lande, Samantha Brunhaver, co-PI, 14%, $1,993,593, NSF# 1519339.
2015-16 “A Long Way Coming”—Understanding Engineering Educators’ Transformations to Student-Centered Teaching, National Science Foundation, *Nadia Kellam, PI, 100%, $183,564 at ASU (original award at UGA: $400,000), NSF#s: 1329300 & 1542531.
*This grant was initially awarded at UGA in 2013 and was transferred to ASU.
2015-16 Connected Ways of Knowing: Uncovering the Role of Emotion in Engineering Student Learning, National Science Foundation, *Nadia Kellam, PI, 100%, $138,783 at ASU (original award at UGA: $300,000), NSF#s: 1160350 & 1541358.
*This grant was initially awarded at UGA in 2012 and was transferred to ASU.
2015-16 University of Washington, Consortium to promote reflection in engineering education, PI, $3,300.
Courses
2026 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 484 | Internship |
| EGR 484 | Internship |
| EGR 784 | Internship |
| EGR 484 | Internship |
| EGR 535 | Innov&Design ofEngr Acad Set |
2025 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 343 | Mechanics of Solid Materials |
| EGR 484 | Internship |
| EGR 484 | Internship |
| EGR 484 | Internship |
2025 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 314 | Embedded Sys Design Project II |
| EGR 784 | Internship |
| EGR 217 | Engr Mechanics Fundamentals |
2024 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 565 | Qualitative Meth in Eng Ed |
| EGR 343 | Mechanics of Solid Materials |
2024 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 343 | Mechanics of Solid Materials |
| EGR 599 | Thesis |
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 799 | Dissertation |
| EGR 593 | Applied Project |
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 535 | Innov&Design ofEngr Acad Set |
| EGR 784 | Internship |
2023 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 590 | Reading and Conference |
| EGR 593 | Applied Project |
| EGR 784 | Internship |
| ASU 101-EGR | The ASU Experience |
| EGR 599 | Thesis |
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 799 | Dissertation |
2023 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 799 | Dissertation |
2023 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 599 | Thesis |
| EGR 201 | Use-Inspired Design Project I |
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 799 | Dissertation |
| ASU 101-TPS | The ASU Experience |
| EGR 593 | Applied Project |
| EGR 792 | Research |
2022 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 217 | Engr Mechanics Fundamentals |
| EGR 590 | Reading and Conference |
| EGR 593 | Applied Project |
| EGR 565 | Qualitative Meth in Eng Ed |
| EGR 784 | Internship |
| ASU 101-EGR | The ASU Experience |
| ASU 101-EGR | The ASU Experience |
| EGR 599 | Thesis |
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 799 | Dissertation |
2022 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 792 | Research |
2022 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 593 | Applied Project |
| EGR 599 | Thesis |
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 799 | Dissertation |
2021 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 217 | Engr Mechanics Fundamentals |
| EGR 599 | Thesis |
| EGR 590 | Reading and Conference |
| EGR 593 | Applied Project |
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 799 | Dissertation |
| EGR 580 | Practicum |
| EGR 784 | Internship |
2021 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 580 | Practicum |
| EGR 792 | Research |
2021 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 593 | Applied Project |
| EGR 599 | Thesis |
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 580 | Practicum |
| EGR 201 | Use-Inspired Design Project I |
| EGR 799 | Dissertation |
2020 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| EGR 217 | Engr Mechanics Fundamentals |
| EGR 599 | Thesis |
| EGR 590 | Reading and Conference |
| EGR 593 | Applied Project |
| EGR 565 | Qualitative Meth in Eng Ed |
| EGR 792 | Research |
| EGR 799 | Dissertation |
| EGR 580 | Practicum |