Assistant Professor of Learning, Design and Technology Ela Castellanos-Reyes Wins College of Education’s 2025 Early Career Faculty Strategic Excellence Award

Assistant Professor of Learning, Design and Technology Ela Castellanos-Reyes has been selected as the 2025 recipient of NC State College of Education’s Early Career Faculty Strategic Excellence Award.

Started in 2024, the award honors one faculty member each year who has made significant contributions to the advancement of the College of Education’s mission through excellence in teaching, research and service, and who has demonstrated exceptional efforts aligned with the College of Education’s Strategic Plan: 2023-2030. The award is given biennially to an early career faculty member in odd years and all other faculty in even years.

“I’m deeply honored to receive the Faculty Strategic Excellence Award. As a junior faculty member, this recognition means a great deal to me — it shows that the work that I love doing is valued by my community and that I can truly thrive here,” Castellanos-Reyes said. “What makes this award particularly meaningful is that it reflects the college’s support for interdisciplinary and innovative scholarship, and the freedom I have to pursue my research interests in ways that feel authentic and forward-looking.”

Since joining the College of Education in 2023, Castellanos-Reyes has been widely recognized for her research related to digital learning. She is the author of an award-winning book chapter highlighting ways educators leveraged free, online tools during remote learning in Latin America and  award-winning papers focused on the creation of open educational resources as well as the expanded accessibility of social learning analytics. 

She is currently spending two months in Sweden as part of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology’s Summer Early Career Programme.

In addition, Castellanos-Reyes has designed or redesigned five College of Education courses to introduce undergraduate students to cutting-edge technology practices to prepare them with skills necessary to navigate the evolving field of educational technology. 

“Rather than focusing solely on the latest flashy technology, Ela leverages cutting-edge methodologies to address theoretical challenges. What strikes me as most interesting about Ela’s scholarship is her flexibility to apply cutting-edge methodologies in her research,” said the faculty member who nominated Castellanos-Reyes for the award. “Ela has already showcased her potential as an outstanding researcher, one poised to make significant impacts on our field and education at large. Her commitment to strategic excellence is evident in all her endeavors.”

About the Strategic Excellence Award 

The College of Education established the Strategic Excellence Award in 2024 to honor faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional commitment and efforts aligned with the College of Education Strategic Plan and who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the college’s land-grant mission, embodying excellence in teaching, research and service to the community. The award is given biennially to an early career faculty member in odd years and to all other faculty in even years. 

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