(Cover photo and profile picture by Natalie Ngai)
Natalie Ngai, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Loyola Marymount University
Los Angeles-based researcher and educator
research interests: cuteness, critical media studies, digital studies, affects and emotions, entertainment journalism, gender, race, and ethnic studies
🥇Research Awards
2024 Popular Culture Association (PCA) Kathy Merlock Jackson Dissertation Award
2024 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Cultural Critical Studies Division Dissertation Award
2022 British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) Best Essay by a Doctoral Student Award
2022 Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Fan and Audiences Studies Graduate Student Paper Award (co-authored with my cat Bean)
2022 AEJMC Entertainment Studies Interest Group Top Student Paper Award and Anne Cooper-Chen Research Award
Honorable Mention for the 2024 Timothy Shary Award for Best Essay in Children’s and Youth Media Studies at SCMS
2022 University of Michigan Department of Communication and Media Graduate Student Diversity Research Award
(Picture by Natalie Ngai)
I am working on a book manuscript on mediated girly cuteness in times of crisis. My original research has been published in several academic journals and an anthology (please check out my "Publications" page). Please feel free to reach out to me at natalie.ngai@lmu.edu. Welcome! 🌴🌞