Nathaniel Dumas, PhD
About Nathaniel Dumas, PhD
Nathaniel Dumas, PhD, is a Senior User Experience Researcher at ActBlue with extensive experience in user experience and design anthropology, having previously worked at Google and other notable organizations.
Current Position at ActBlue
Nathaniel Dumas is currently serving as a Senior User Experience Researcher at ActBlue since 2023. Based in Oakland, California, he works remotely in this role. His primary responsibility includes leading user experience research initiatives to enhance the platform's usability and effectiveness for its users.
Previous Experience at Google
Nathaniel Dumas held the position of Senior User Experience Researcher at Google from 2022 to 2023 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to this, he worked as a User Experience Researcher at Google from 2019 to 2022. During his time at Google, he was involved in various research projects aimed at improving the user interface and experience of Google’s products.
Academic Background
Nathaniel Dumas earned his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Linguistic Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied from 2004 to 2010. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Cinema-Television from the University of Southern California, completed in 2004. Additionally, he obtained a Certificate of Completion in Formal Linguistics and Qualitative/Interactional Sociolinguistics from the Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute/Stanford University in 2007.
Experience at TripIt and Idea Couture Inc.
Nathaniel Dumas worked as a User Experience Researcher at TripIt from 2016 to 2019, where he contributed to improving users' travel planning experiences. Prior to that, he was employed as a Resident Anthropologist at Idea Couture Inc. from 2014 to 2015, focusing on integrating anthropological insights into design processes.
Academic Roles and Research
Nathaniel Dumas has held several academic positions, including Adjunct Instructor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Additionally, he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Linguistics, University of California, Santa Barbara, from 2010 to 2012. His research focus lies in discovering opportunities for addressing emerging human and cultural problems.