Esther Yeunhee Kang, Ph.D. (she/her) is an intersectional and interdisciplinary researcher, designer, artist, writer, and educator based in the midwest (US). Dr. Kang’s work focuses on reimagining the boundaries of community-engaged design in local civic innovation projects. Through archival, ethnographic and arts-based methods, the goal is to equip community-based designers and technologists with analytical, theoretical, and methodological frameworks to conduct ethical place-based, systems-level practices. This work sits at the intersection of science and technology studies, urban humanities, design studies, and postcolonial studies. Currently, she is working on three projects: (1) tracing the relationship between development projects, design practices, and low-income communities in the era of AI and sustainability transitions, (2) the role of civic designers in systems-level change, and (3) civic engagement through design pedagogy.

Dr. Kang is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s (UW-Madison) School of Human Ecology (SoHE). Her primary affiliation is in the Design Studies dept. and secondary affiliation is in the Civil Society and Community Studies dept. She is also a member of the Wisconsin RISE Initiative, Global Human Ecology Network, faculty affiliate at the Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, and 25-26 Morgridge Fellow at the Morgridge Center for Public Service.

Dr. Kang is a feminist creative, researcher, and mentor of design — examining, practicing, and teaching with a humanistic, critical, and social science orientation. Her work departs from the position that all design is situated & all design is political, and poses the question therefore, how do we design [social infrastructure] for all in a manner that preserves individual dignity?

Current student collaborators include: Bonbon Yang (Ph.D. advisee; HCI and design doctoral student), Emily Burke (Summer PA; sociology doctoral student), and Areyana Proctor (Summer PA; communication studies doctoral student).

Her interdisciplinary scholarship builds upon 10+ years of award-winning work as an independent design researcher, strategist, and advisor, where Dr. Kang led community-centered projects that applied co-design methods to urban planning, policy-making, and digital service delivery processes. This took place at the municipal, state, congressional, and federal levels. Through this work, she displayed a commitment to equitable and sustainable futures for all through cross-sector collaborations, transdisciplinary work, and interdisciplinary webs of thought.

Selected former collaborators include Vera Institute of Justice, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities + Results for America, New Jersey (state) Office of Innovation, and New York (state) Department of Health, in addition to a one-year term with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders under the Obama Administration.

Dr. Kang's previous academic appointments include NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Pratt Institute, and School of Visual Art.

Dr. Kang was born in Detroit, MI (1986) and grew up in Dallas, TX and Los Angeles, CA. She currently resides in Madison, WI — her 12th city to call home. Dr. Kang earned her Ph.D. in Design from Carnegie Mellon University, MA in social design from Maryland Institute College of Art, and BFA with concentrations in photography and art theory from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she transferred from Pasadena City College and Art Center College of Design’s Night Program.

For prospective PhD students: Dr. Kang welcomes emerging scholars interested in studying: 1) the impact of design in sociotechnical, sociopolitical, or sociocultural contexts, 2) the practice of design through a systems-thinking, community-centered, and place-based approach, or 3) the relationship between design, community engagement, and city development in the era of big tech and sustainability transitions. Dr. Kang is generally interested in working with interdisciplinary design and feminist STS scholars with a humanist or critical orientation.

Feel free to reach out anytime: eykang2 [at] wisc [dot] edu.

Copyright © 2025 Esther Y. Kang. All rights reserved.

Portrait by Spokane based photographer, Sol Chloe Yoon

& News:

  • Publication In Press. Unsettling Boundaries: Accounting for Social Histories in Participatory Design. Temes de Disseny. (Journal Article) Publication Date: Winter 2025

  • Publication In Press. The Politics of Place-based Design: An Inquiry into a Worldbuilding Practice. Urban Humanities 2: An (Un)volume of Place, Pedagogy, and Practice. (Book Chapter). Publication Date: Spring 2026. Publisher: Routledge.

  • Presentation Accepted to the Urban Humanities (Un)conference. St. Louis, MO. Fall 2025

  • Workshop Accepted to the Design Justice Symposium. Minneapolis, MN. Fall 2025

  • Talk Invited Guest Lecturer at NYU. Technology, Culture and Society Dept. Spring 2025

  • Talk Invited to be part of a speaker series at UCLA’s Information Studies School. Winter 2024.

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