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Inspired by the discovery of superconducting copper-oxides in 1986, Shannon Namboodri studied Ceramic Engineering at Clemson University. She earned a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Virginia Tech University where she was a National Science Foundation Fellow working on ceramic superconductors. 

After completing her PhD, she worked for Michelin North America in a variety of roles from production to quality control and environmental compliance to research. After taking some time to raise three daughters, she returned to work for a start-up company, Cellular Materials International, working to develop and commercialize high-performance Periodic Cellular Materials, a technology initially conceived and developed at University of Virginia. Her focus was developing these materials for blast and ballistic resistance applications. 

In 2014, she became an instructor of engineering at Wake Tech Community College and then Associate Department Head in 2016. Although her official teaching career began in 2014, she has been teaching since her time at Virginia Tech when she developed the first of many STEM programs for elementary school students to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. She is passionate about encouraging students to enter and persist in the STEM fields.