Nicole Pangborn
pangborn [at] alumni [dot] princeton [dot] edu
Hi! I’m Nicole.
I’m a writer, teacher, and mixed-methods researcher with a background in Sociology, Anthropology, and Mathematics.
I’m originally from Providence, Rhode Island, where I’m currently living, along with my partner (Chris), son (Oscar), and dog (Macaroni).
Teaching
In Fall 2024, I began teaching as a Visiting Lecturer in Urban Studies and International and Public Affairs at Brown University. My Spring 2025 courses include Urban Life in Providence (URBN 0230) and Policy in Action (MPA 2800).
In the past, I’ve taught or co-taught courses at both Princeton and Ohio State, including: Honors Intro to Sociology (2020), The Ghetto and the Enclave (2019), Social Networks (2015), Intro to Sociology (2014), and Technology and Society (2014).
Sociology
In 2019, I completed my PhD in Sociology at Princeton. I spent six years there training to become an urban ethnographer —learning immersive fieldwork techniques, studying face-to-face interaction, and conducting in-depth interviews. My dissertation was an ethnography of an Italian bakery on the outskirts of Providence, RI, where I lived and worked for two years. You can download a copy of my dissertation here if you’d like.
UX Research
From 2020-2024, I brought my qualitative research skills to industry as a UX Researcher. At MathWorks (2021-2024), I worked with Graphics development teams to improve data visualization workflows in MATLAB. At Yahoo (2020-2021), I worked to improve the Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, and Yahoo Mail products. My goals as a UX Researcher were always to both (1) provide actionable insights to product managers, designers, and engineers; and (2) to learn more about how humans interact with, change, and are changed by technology.
Writing
You can find a collection of some of my writing here. The collection includes both academic pieces as well as some fictional short stories.
Reading
Here are a few of the books and stories which have changed me recently, in no particular order:
Lies and Sorcery, by Elsa Morante.
Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner.
“Shoe Story,” by Peter Orner.
“Miles City, Montana,” by Alice Munro.
C.V.
You can find a .pdf of my cv here, and are very welcome to email me for more information.