mei bowyer, MEd, is an interdisciplinary artist and doctoral candidate in the College of Education, department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, with a specialization in Urban Education and certificates in Museum Scholarship and Material Culture (MSMC) and Digital Studies in Arts and Humanities (DSAH) at the University of Maryland. mei holds an MEd in Educational Technology and Instructional Design in K-12 and adult learning and a double BA in Public and Digital Humanities with a focus in Environmental Science and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Religious Studies with a focus in African and African diasporic spiritualities. As a cultural ecologist, mei investigates the intersections of learning, power, and environment. Using creativity and critical inquiry, their work explores how knowledge is deeply rooted in place, material objects, and spiritual dimensions. She is a 2026-27 Arts for All graduate student fellow and member of the College Park Aviation Museum Teacher Advisory Group (TAG).
Arts for All Graduate Student Fellowship, University of Maryland, 2026-27.
Digital Ethnic Futures Consortium (DEFCon) Community Fellow, Cal State Fullerton, 2025-26.
Curriculum and Instruction (EDCI) Fellow, University of Maryland, 2024-25.
Dean’s Fellow, University of Maryland, 2024-25.
Archie Green Student Travel Award, Public Programs Section of the American Folklore Society, Fall 2026.
Digital Humanities Summer Award, Cal State University Fullerton Department of History, 2025-26.
Mellon Sawyer Seminar Summer Award. Georgetown University, Summer 2025.
Hands-In-Clay Scholarship, Baltimore Clayworks, Fall 2024.
Grants:
Digital Ethnic Futures Consortium Grant. DEFCON at Cal State Fullerton, 2025-26.
Arts for All ArtsAMPlification Graduate Student Research Grant. University of Maryland, College Park, Fall 2024.
Installations:
"in-to-mi-ii-see: repair beings with intimacy." Imagining America Annual Gathering, Davis, California, October 2026.
"grounding: a black indigenous imagination." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting, Asheville, NC, October 2026.
"our new worlds: envisioning, stretching, persisting." The Phillips Collection Teacher Institute, Washington, DC, July 2026.
"sounding: dark matter." American Folklore Society Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, October 2025.
Presentations:
Presentation titled, "The Black body as installation: Black feminist imaginaries, Living archive, and Black aesthetic inheritance." Panel titled, "Preserve Otherwise: Black Aesthetic Practice, Archival Recovery, and Worldmaking," Aesthetic Inheritance: Art, Archive, and African American Life, Bowie State University, Bowie, Maryland, October 2026.
Presentation titled, "Art as the food that nourishes the spirit," Panel titled, "Black epistemologies: the (re)construction of knowledge through food, art, and spirit," Avery Symposium, Charleston College, Charleston, SC, June 2026.
Presentation titled, "The Black arts school," Panel titled, "Creative placemaking, Black restorative ecologies, and Black spatial futures," Mellon Sawyer Seminar, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, November 2025.
Workshop titled, "Sounding: dark matter," American Folklore Society Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, October 2025.
Projects:
Advisory Board Member, Teacher Advisory Group, College Park Aviation Museum, College Park, Maryland, 2026-27.
Participant, "Studio Practice as a Tool for Cross-Curricular Critical Thinking," Professional Development at The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Summer 2026.
TLPL 251: Community, Learners, and Classroom Climate (Instructor Assistant)
TLPL 252: Students, Schooling, and Communities (Instructor)
TLPL 332: Arts Integration in Elementary Classrooms (Instructor)
TLPL 481: Embracing Diversity in the Classroom Community (Instructor)