Prof. Nam’s work metaphorically explores how technologies are used in various art disciplines and how people perceive these art products in various dynamics. Prof. Nam has explored new possibilities when art and technology merge, and his work has been exhibited worldwide, including the US, UK, Korea, Hungary, China, and Tunisia. As a teacher-scholar, Prof. Nam has actively pursued his research on the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning. He was awarded 2010 National Teaching Scholar (Carnegie Foundation/Carnegie Academy for the SoTL), 2010-2021 Elon Teaching Scholar (Elon University, Elon, NC), and 2008 Wisconsin Teaching Fellow (University of Wisconsin Systems).
Prof. Nam founded his software company, Nam ER Technology LLC., in 2018 and has been producing serious games and training applications for clients including the US Army, USAID, US DOD, and many other government agencies and private companies. He partnered with ThunderCat Technology, LLC., and they officially became a US Army Information Technology Enterprise Solutions Software 2 (ITES0SW2) contract holder in 2020. They are one of only 31 contractors on the $13 billion 10-year award.
As an internationally renowned educator-practitioner, Prof. Nam has tenure with the Fulbright Specialist Program (US Department of State). As a two-time Fulbright Specialist, he has worked with government agencies in Tunisia to empower Tunisian Youth with game development and virtual reality production capacity-building projects. He also has ongoing projects in the United Arab Emirates. With his esteemed colleagues at George Mason University, Prof. Nam has led an effort to empower the young Emirates with game development and XR (extended reality) education. He is also leading the development of an AI framework addressing climate change and cultivation/empowering local interest groups with funding from the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Prof. Nam actively pursues speaking engagements outside of the university setting. He will be the guest of honor at the AETEX 2024, Ajman International Fair for Education and Training, in the UAE on May 14th, 2024. He appeared as a keynote speaker and guest speaker/lecturer at various game conferences, including the 2023 Dublin Learning City Festival, the 2022 International Conference on Global Trends in Gaming (ICGTG 2022), the 2022 International Symposium on DTx, Digital Therapeutics, and the Special College Session of the 2021 5th UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities (ICLC).
Prof. Nam has served as an Associate Editor of Entertainment Computing, a peer-reviewed scholarly research journal (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/entertainment-computing). Recently, he has been appointed as the next Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of eSports Multidisciplinary Research (IJER) published by IGI Global (https://www.igi-global.com/journal/international-journal-esports-multidisciplinary-research/297133).
Prof. Sang Nam teaches technology-intensive courses in the Computer Game Design Program at George Mason University. He holds an MFA in Electronic Integrated Arts from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, a BA in Interdisciplinary Computer and the Arts, and a BS in Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Diego.