Jacob Nielsen is a PhD candidate in the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He is broadly interested in realism, the nineteenth-century novel (in both English and Spanish), material culture, and the transatlantic economic, aesthetic, and imperial relationship between Great Britain and South America. Jacob graduated from BYU with a BA in International Relations (2017) and MA in English (2019).

As a graduate instructor and Program Assistant for University Writing at BYU, he taught (and mentored others who taught) courses in rhetoric, composition, and social science writing. After graduating in 2019, he was hired as a Visiting Assistant Instructor at BYU, teaching courses in British literary history, contemporary world literature, and literary theory. At Penn, he has taught or helped teach courses on Victorian fiction, Shakespeare, and contemporary world cinema. He also taught a short writing course titled "Place and Belonging" as part of Penn's Pre-First Year Program.