Megumi Asada Awarded NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship
The School of Graduate Studies proudly celebrates Megumi Asada, a PhD student in Education, who has been awarded a 2025 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship by the National Academy of Education.
The NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship supports outstanding doctoral research that advances the history, theory, analysis, or practice of education. Each year, only 35 fellows are selected from across the United States. Applicants must be enrolled in a U.S. graduate school, but U.S. citizenship is not required. This prestigious fellowship provides support during the dissertation writing year, offers access to professional development retreats, and includes mentorship from senior scholars in the field.
About the Research
Megumi’s dissertation, Teaching Logic for Social Justice: Connecting Advanced Mathematics and Logic to an Abolitionist Perspective, explores how principles of proof-based mathematics can be harnessed to support social and political understanding. Through constructivist teaching experiments with undergraduates, Megumi develops a learning trajectory that invites students to use geometric logic to analyze and question carceral systems. This work brings sociopolitical discourse into advanced mathematics education, an innovative expansion of what constitutes equitable and critical math pedagogy.
About Megumi Asada
Megumi is a PhD candidate at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education and a student in the School of Graduate Studies. They earned a B.A. in Mathematics from Williams College and an MPhil in Criminology from the University of Cambridge. Drawing on teaching experience from Bronx high school classrooms and as a former full-time tutor and AmeriCorps teaching assistant, Megumi’s research is rooted in their own journey, witnessing mathematics portrayed as apolitical. Their inquiry challenges that narrative, connecting logic and proof to questions of justice and abolition. Megumi also collaborated on an abolitionist curriculum through the Institute for Anti-Racist Education. Outside of research, they enjoy journaling, bouldering, and weightlifting.
Reflecting on their time at Rutgers, Megumi shared, “I’m extremely grateful for the amazing advising and mentorship I’ve received at the GSE. Many faculty have been extremely generous with their time and have provided valuable insights that have helped shape my dissertation. I also have to thank my colleagues who have made Rutgers such an enjoyable place to work and learn.”
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Megumi Asada on this remarkable honor. Their work not only strengthens Rutgers’ scholarship in mathematics education but also advances critical frameworks for justice in classrooms and communities nationwide.
Spotlight ID: SGS-2025-06
Tags: Mathematics Education, NAEd/Spencer Fellowship, Abolition, Logic, Rutgers School of Education