CASE STUDY PORTFOLIO

Feng Chen, PhD Candidate
My Resume
Table of Contents
Primary Item (H2)Sub Item 1 (H3)

Commercial clients research projects

start-up online gallery Artitute.io based in New York

Research methods: surveys, focus groups, user interviews, usability testing, concept testing, contextual inquiries, journey mapping, stakeholder interviews, and data analysis
Role: user experience researcher and insight strategist 

Long-term academic research-Social sciences

The New School, New York, New York

Research methods: digital ethnography, contextual inquiries, content analysis, data analysis, and field studies
Role: research fellow
• Led and conducted a two-year research project to study visual communication on social media by looking at how visual artists perform their cultural membership and racial identity in art making and media activism;
• Pitched research proposals and achieved 15,000USD in research funds from competitive grants and world-renowned research institutes, including Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility and India China Institute;
• Collaborated with India China Institute on the international project of post-industrial cities in the United States, India, and China from 2017 to 2019; Collected data on site to better understand people’s needs for space and collaborated with graphic designers for mapping mixed use neighborhoods in Brooklyn;
• Liaised and built partnership with Center for Public Research as a premier think tank in Delhi, India and conducted field studies, in-depth interviews, and contextual inquiries in India to study the relationship of migration decision and higher education in 2018.
            

University-level courses taught

Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York

  • Course: Cross-Cultural Studies (Fall 2018), Introduction to Sociology (Fall 2019)

  • Role: adjunct professor

  • These courses provided conceptual and practical knowledge of the history, institutions, economies, and culture in modern societies. It aims to enhance students’ abilities to communicate and interact successfully in cross-cultural context. Students were introduced to the range and significance of cultural differences. The courses help students develop sociological perspective and use sociological approaches to understand and study societies.

Brooklyn College, City University of New York

  • Course: Mass Media and Communication (Spring 2018)

  • Role: adjunct professor

  • The course provided a comprehensive survey of the history, structure, and social impact of mass media. It examined how mass media and communication technologies influence culture, politics and social life, largely in the United States, but also across the world. In particular, the course discussed the rise of digital technology and social media and the impact on societies.

  • Supervised 30 undergraduate research projects in media studies, using quantitative or qualitative methods to investigate human factors, such as survey, data analysis, ethnography, and content analysis. 

College of Staten Island, City University of New York

  • Courses: Minority Groups, Introduction to Sociology (2017-2018)

  • These courses provided an overview of fundamental concepts in sociology, introduces key approaches sociologists use to understand societies, and encourages students to look at their everyday life and important public issues through a sociological perspective. In particular, the courses paid special attention to racial justice, by examining the roots of stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination and how they affect minority groups.

  • Supervised undergraduate research projects that used multiple sociological methodologies to better understand human factors, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and data analysis. 

Selected public talks and presentations

International Sociological Association Forum of Sociology, Porto Alegre, Brazil/Online, February 2021
ISA Research Committee 37 (Sociology of Arts) "Life-Line or Noose? Exploring the Tensions between Radical Urban Arts and the 'Creative City' Growth Machine" session speaker
American Sociological Association Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA/Online August 2020
"Performing Race and Remaking Identity: Chinese Visual Artists in New York"
Eastern Sociological Society Annual Conference Philadelphia, PA February 2020
Platforms to the World, Dallas, TX January 2020
New York Conference on Asian Studies, New Paltz, NY October 2019  
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