Nicole Peterson

Nicole Peterson

Professor and Chair
704-687-5094
Barnard 217

PROFILE:

Nicole Peterson is a Professor of Anthropology at UNC Charlotte. As an applied, environmental, and economic anthropologist, they engage with communities dealing with changes and inequities around food, health, and the environment. Dr. Peterson has studied decisions about resource management and economic development around a Mexican marine protected area, culminating in the book, Net Values: Environment, Economic, and Social Entanglements in the Gulf of California. Dr. Peterson has also collaborated with non-profit organizations to understand climate change adaptation in Ethiopian agriculture, student food insecurity, Charlotte area experiences of food insecurity, neighborhood change and health inequities.

Dr. Peterson was also the principal investigator for a five-year National Science Foundation grant: Integrated Network for Social Sustainability. This project is a collaborative effort to understand how sustainability efforts are affected by social relationships, ideas, and other elements. For more information on this project, visit the Social Sustainability Network website.

Learn more on Dr. Peterson’s web page.

Peterson Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION:

  • Ph.D. University of California, San Diego, Anthropology, 2005
  • M.A. University of California, San Diego, Anthropology, 1999
  • B.A. Rice University, Biochemistry, 1997

TEACHING:

  • Introduction to Anthropology (four field, undergraduate)
  • Applied anthropology (undergraduate seminar/practicum, graduate)
  • Ethnographic methods (combined undergraduate and graduate course)
  • Environmental Anthropology (undergraduate)
  • Environment and Development (undergraduate seminar)
  • Political ecology (undergraduate and graduate seminar)
  • Anthropology and the politics of climate change (undergraduate seminar)
  • Culture and Consumption (co-taught graduate seminar)

RESEARCH INTERESTS/AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

  • Food systems
  • Sustainability
  • Adaptation to environmental and social change
  • Decision-making
  • Political ecology
  • Climate change
  • Institutions and organizations
  • Participatory processes
  • Applied anthropology

AWARDS/HONORS/GRANTS:

  • Women and Girls Research Alliance, UNC Charlotte. “Addressing Black Women’s Health in Mecklenburg County, NC, through the efforts of the Madie Maddox Smith Women’s Health Equity Institute (WHEI)” PI, October, 2024 

  • CW Williams Community Health Center. “Empowering Minority Mothers to Believe and Receive Access to Care Equity (EMMBRACE),” contract for resource mapping project. 2024

  • Mecklenburg County Public Health. “Building Food Security Collaboration through an Online Hub and Coalition working groups” Co-PIs Colleen Hammelman, Nicole Peterson, and Jessica Escobar DeMarco. 2022-2023

  • Gambrell Faculty Fellowship, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. “Adaptations and resilience in the Mecklenburg County food system during COVID-19: opportunities and next steps.” PI: Nicole Peterson, Department of Anthropology, Co-PI: Colleen Hammelman, Department of Geography and Earth Sciences and director of CHARP. (July 2020-July 2022)

  • Ignite COVID-19 Flash Grant, UNC Charlotte. “Adaptations and resilience in the Mecklenburg County food system during COVID-19: opportunities and next steps.” PI: Nicole Peterson, Department of Anthropology, UNC Charlotte.  (2020)

  • Finalist, Bonnie Cone Professorship in Civic Engagement at UNC Charlotte (2020)

  • Provost’s Faculty Fellow at UNC Charlotte (2019)

  • NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates: “Collaborative REU Site: Examining the Intersection of Food, Housing and Healthcare in the Beatties Ford Road Corridor, Charlotte, NC.” PI Joseph C. Ewoodzie (Davidson College). Senior personnel. 2018-2020. (Last year canceled due to pandemic)

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science: Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, 2015-2016

  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant, UNC Charlotte, 2014
  • NSF: Research Coordination Networks, Engineering and Education for Sustainability track: Integrated Network for Social Sustainability (INSS), 2012
  • Fellow, Society for Applied Anthropology

SELECT PUBLICATIONS:

  • Ademu, Lilian O*, Jessica Escobar-DeMarco, Nicole Peterson, Rajib Paul, and Elizabeth F Racine. “Developing and Implementing a University Nutrition Security Action Plan.” Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2025.2470959 

  • Peterson, N. 2025. Net Values: Environmental, Economic, and Social Entanglements in a Mexican Fishing Community. University of Arizona Press. 

  • Peterson, N. and A. Freidus. 2023. University Student Food Insecurity as a Form of Structural Violence. Human Organization 82(2): 182–194. https://doi.org/10.17730/1938-3525-82.2.182

  • Peterson, N., Freidus, A., and D. Tereshenko*. 2022. Why college students don’t access resources for food insecurity: Stigma and perceptions of need. Annals of Anthropological Practice 46(2):140-152. https://doi.org/10.1111/napa.12190; (recognized as one of the journal’s most widely read articles in 2024)

  • Frederick, Quinton*, and Peterson, Nicole. 2021. Community and the Built Environment: The Physical and Social Consequences of Gentrification in Charlotte’s Lockwood. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Undergraduate Research Journal 1(1). https://journals.charlotte.edu/index.php/urj/article/view/1305

  • Arora, P. , Hoeller, S. , Scalone, E. , Okumura, T. & Peterson, N. 2021 The Impact of Economic Uncertainty and Trust on Cooperation in Environmental Dilemmas Across Cultures. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research. 14(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.34891/ra4n-pj45

  • Peterson, N, and Freidus, A. 2020. More than money: barriers to food security on a college campus. Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment 42(2):125-137. https://doi.org/10.1111/cuag.12252

     

  • Biehl, Peter F., Susan Crate, Maaz Gardezi, Lawrence Hamilton, Sharon L. Harlan , Carrie Hritz, Bryan Hubbell, Timothy A. Kohler, Nicole Peterson, and Julie Silva. 2017 Social Science Perspectives on Climate Change: Innovative tools, methods and analysis. White paper for USGCRP Social Science Working Group. https://downloads.globalchange.gov/sscc/SSCC-workshop-methods-4-9-2018.pdf   on https://www.globalchange.gov/our-work/interagency-groups/sscc/social-science-perspectives
  • Boyer, RHW, Peterson, ND, Arora, P, and Caldwell, K. 2016. Five Approaches to Social Sustainability and an Integrated Way Forward. Sustainability 8(9), 878; doi:10.3390/su8090878

     

  • Arora, P., Peterson, N., Bert, F., and Podesta, G. 2016 Managing the Triple Bottom Line for Sustainability: A Case Study of Argentine Agribusinesses. Sustainability: Science, Policy, and Practice 12(1). https://sspp.proquest.com/managing-the-triple-bottom-line-for-sustainability-a-case-study-of-argentine-agribusinesses-dd4333c59d8f#.jta6sfkcw
  • Peterson, N. 2016 Introduction to the special issue on social sustainability: integration, context, and governance. Sustainability: Society, Practice, and Policy 12(1) https://sspp.proquest.com/introduction-to-the-special-issue-on-social-sustainability-integration-context-and-governance-dc31ee5cf89e#.mchjhuuze
  • Peterson, N. and C. Isenhour. 2014 Introduction: Moving Beyond the ‘Rational Actor’ in Environmental Governance and Conservation. Conservation and Society 12(3):229-232.
  • Peterson, N. 2014 Breaking the bounds of rationality: Values, relationships, and decision-making in Mexican fishing communities. Conservation and Society 12(3):245-256.

http://clas-pages.uncc.edu/nicole-peterson/, http://clas-pages.uncc.edu/inss/