Independent Researcher

Director of Behavior and Human Dimensions

Thesis Title: Engines of Ideology: Urban Renewal in Rostock, Germany 1990-2000

About

Dr. Susan Mazur-Stommen is the rare beast, a hybrid academic/consultant. As of August 2011, she is the Director of Behavior and Human Dimensions at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) in Washington, DC.

She began working in Silicon Valley in 1986 when she took a job at Xerox as a software beta-tester.  The next ten years were spent ‘in the belly of the beast.’  Later, as a contractor, she worked for companies including Hewlett Packard (participated in focus group for new corporate website); KPMG (preparing materials for consultants on kanban implementation); and General Magic (on the ground floor of what would ultimately lead to the Palm Pilot).  For several years she worked in product marketing at Global Village Communications, Inc., producer of the award-winning TelePort modems for the Apple Macintosh, and related products for fax and telephony.

At the same time she pursued a degree in Anthropology at San Jose State University, which she received (with honors) in 1995. In 1996 she left Silicon Valley to get her Master’s and Doctorate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside. A Fulbright recipient, she completed her doctorate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside in 2002. 

She has written on urbanization, foodways, pop culture, consumption, media, and women’s issues. Her work has appeared in the Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Europe, Stadtgespraechen, Anthropology of Eastern Europe, Streetnotes: Ethnography, Poetry, & the Documentary Experience, and Adjunct Advocate, among others.

Her firm Indicia Consulting specializes in ethnographic research in retail and hospitality. This is an anthropological consulting service creating business solutions for customer and client relations including: service, research, outreach, development, and product marketing. Indicia helps clients identify, analyze, explain, and overcome business challenges in these areas. They provide customer-oriented solutions based on ‘real world’ data.  She says, “[L]ike many anthropologists, I am fascinated by how individual behavior is quickly reflected in the wider culture. For example, how a brand, color, or font suddenly resonates with the buying public.” 

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