Cuihua (Cindy) Shen – Thursday, April 10, 2025  

Talk Description

Visual misinformation, including manipulated, synthetic, or out-of-context images and videos, is increasingly common in AI-mediated information environments.  Due to the superior impression, retention, virality, and persuasiveness of visuals, visual misinformation poses a significant threat to national security, social cohesion, and public health. Yet, we still know very little about how users process and judge the authenticity of visuals, and the ways in which platforms and fact-checking agencies can effectively detect and combat visual misinformation. In this talk, I will report findings from several recent studies on the perception, mechanisms, and interventions of visual misinformation and suggest future research directions to mitigate information manipulation and restore trust in the age of generative AI.   

Bio 

Cuihua (Cindy) Shen is a professor of communication at UC Davis and the co-founder of the Computational Communication Research lab (c2.ucdavis.edu) and the Computational Multi-Modal Communication Lab (https://sites.google.com/view/cmmclab). Her recent research focuses on computational social science and multimodal (mis)information in AI-mediated environments. She is the past chair of the Computational Methods Division of the International Communication Association, and the founding associate editor of the journal Computational Communication Research, as well as the associate editor of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. The National Science Foundation and Facebook have funded her research. She is an ICA Fellow, a recipient of a Fulbright US Scholar Award, and has received numerous top paper awards from ICA. 

Dr. Deen Freelon – Thursday, March 13th, 2025  

Talk Description 

In 2018, I published a short essay titled “Computational Research in the Post-API Age” in the journal Political Communication. Its goals were simple: to warn computational researchers in the social sciences that the days of free and easily accessible digital communication data were coming to an end, and to start a conversation about how to respond. The essay was initially inspired by the prohibition of automated data collection from Facebook’s Graph API, which occurred in March 2018 in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This corporate decision effectively eliminated most authorized means of collecting Facebook data (except those involving direct collaboration with Meta researchers) until the Crowdtangle service was opened to academic researchers in the summer of 2020. Meta shelved Crowdtangle in August 2024, replacing it with the Meta Content Library, another data access regime. Other social platforms, including Twitter/X, Reddit, and TikTok, have also substantially modified their data access policies over the years. 

Some of the issues I raised in my Political Communication essay are still relevant today, while others are less so. I failed entirely to address still other major developments in access to digital data over the ensuing years. This presentation, based on a commissioned journal article, will build on my earlier piece in three ways: first, it will recount a concise history of social media data access, informed by official documentation and my own professional observations as one of the first Communication researchers to analyze social media data computationally. Second, it will sketch the present state of digital communication data access in context with past such “ages,” making practical recommendations and generally characterizing the moment for posterity. The third section will be devoted to the future, but instead of making predictions, it will adopt a normative approach, advocating for corporate and governmental data access policies that balance the researcher’s interest in data usability, the public’s interests in privacy and impactful research, and business interests in transparency and good corporate citizenship. 

Bio 

Deen Freelon is a Presidential Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication. A widely recognized expert on digital politics and computational social science, he has authored or coauthored over 60 book chapters, funded reports, and articles in journals such as Nature, Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He was one of the first communication researchers to apply computational methods to social media data and has developed eight open-source research software packages. The first of these, ReCal, is a free online intercoder reliability service that has been running continuously since 2008, when it was developed by the author as a Ph.D. student, and is used by tens of thousands of researchers worldwide. He has been awarded over $6 million in research funding from grantmakers, including the Knight Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. 

He was a founding member and remains a Senior Researcher at the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of five academic research centers in the Knight Research Network (established in 2019) to receive its highest level of funding. His research and commentary have been featured in press outlets including the Washington Post, NPR, The Atlantic, Buzzfeed, Vox, USA Today, the BBC, PBS NewsHour, CBS News, NBC News, and many others. Unlike many computational social scientists, he centers questions of identity and power in his work, paying particular attention to race, gender, and ideology. 

Freelon earned a B.A. with honors from Stanford University in 2002, and his M.A. (2008) and Ph.D. (2012) from the University of Washington. Before coming to Penn, he held tenured positions at American University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His endowed chair is named after his great-grandfather, Allan Randall Freelon Sr., an acclaimed Philadelphia fine artist and art educator who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1924 with a B.A. in education. 

Dr. Daniel “Danny” Pimentel – Thursday, March 6th, 2025 

Talk Description 

Spatial computing tools, such as augmented reality (AR), are revolutionizing how audiences connect with distant communities, creating the illusion of a direct experience with virtual people and places. In this talk, Danny will share insights from his ongoing projects with industry collaborators, such as Meta and Snap, that utilize AR-based storytelling for social impact. He’ll also showcase practical, no-code tools and workflows that empower researchers and creatives to design and test their own AR experiences—no technical background required. 

Bio 

Danny Pimentel is an Assistant Professor of Immersive Media Psychology, Fellow at Yale’s Program on Climate Change Communication, and co-Director of the Oregon Reality Lab at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. As a developer and researcher, Danny creates and tests the pro-environmental and prosocial implications of immersive storytelling through augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR). His projects have been supported by Meta, Snapchat, Unity 3D, Google AR Core, and National Geographic, and his work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Scientific Reports, New Media and Society, and Journal of Nature Conservation, among others. 

Dr. Jaime Banks – Tuesday, October 29th, 2024

Talk Description

Although chatbots have existed since at least the 1960s (i.e., Weizenbaum’s ELIZA), the recent mainstreaming of text- and image-generative AI has fostered a surge in applications that facilitate human interaction with social AI. Among these are AI companions like Replika and Paradot, as well as interactions with ChatGPT. Scholars tend to examine these machines through the lenses of human-computer interaction or parasocial interaction, but I argue that these perspectives are not entirely suitable. Rather, we should adopt the lens of human-machine communication that considers how humans and machines co-create meaning, each according to its respective faculties. Drawing on a collection of recent studies on mind perception, moral judgments, and technical breakdown, I offer two claims and a Big Question about the processes and effects of humans’ engagement with social AI.

Bio 

Jaime Banks (Ph.D., Colorado State University) is the Katchmar-Wilhelm Endowed Professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University and PI of the iSchool’s LinkLab. Her research is driven by questions of human-technology relations, particularly those involving artificial intelligence, social robots, and video game avatars. She focuses on relational construals of the mind and morality, and her current work explores the experiences and effects of AI companionship.

Dr. Joe Walther – Thursday, October 10th, 2024 and Friday, October 11th, 2024

Bio 

Joseph B. Walther holds the Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is a Distinguished Professor of Communication. He is also a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. A Fulbright Scholar, an ICA Fellow, and an NCA Distinguished Scholar, his research focuses on the impact of interpersonal and intergroup dynamics on the attitudes and behaviors people develop through mediated interactions, including personal relationships, groups, inter-ethnic conflict, and online hate. He received ICA’s Chaffee Award for Career Productivity and has twice been awarded the NCA’s Woolbert Award for articles that changed thinking in the communication discipline.

Dr. Marleah Dean Kruzel – Thursday, September 26th, 2024

Talk Description 

Approximately 10% of all cases of cancer in the United States are hereditary. Genetic testing for cancer predisposition is utilized to identify individuals at significantly increased risk of developing hereditary cancer and to guide prevention and treatment strategies to reduce cancer incidence and mortality.

Previvors are individuals who have an increased lifetime risk of hereditary cancer due to a pathogenic genetic variant but who have not been diagnosed with cancer. An inherent aspect of living with a pathogenic variant increasing cancer risk is uncertainty. Previvors unable to manage this uncertainty are at risk for negative outcomes such as heightened psychological distress over time and impeded health decision-making.

Drawing on my decade of research in cancer communication and personal experiences with inherited cancer, I will present two projects in this talk that focus on how previvors manage cancer-related uncertainty, make health and fertility decisions, and communicate inherited cancer risk information to their family members and clinicians. Implications will highlight how psychosocial interventions and communication tools can facilitate informed decision-making, ultimately enhancing emotional well-being and long-term outcomes.

Bio 

Marleah Dean Kruzel (PhD, Texas A&M University) is an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida and a Collaborator Member in the Health Outcomes & Behavior Program at the Moffitt Cancer Center. Dr. Dean Kruzel’s research interests are cancer communication and the communication of genetic risk information. She is an expert on the health experiences and decisions of previvors. Her research has been published in numerous journals, including Genetics in Medicine, Health Communication, Patient Education and Counseling, Journal of Applied Communication Research, and Journal of Genetic Counseling. Dr. Dean Kruzel’s research has been and is currently funded by the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. As a BRCA2-positive previvor herself, she is dedicated to patient engagement and science communication.

Dr. Kristina Scharp – Tuesday, April 18th, 2024

Talk Description

This talk address the communicative processes of remaking, resistance, and resilience and the ways these processes can help people better disrupt and manage the inequities they experience and resulting marginalization with which they must cope. Based on her research about family estrangement, complicated health diagnoses, and disenfranchised college students, she also illustrates how communication scholarship can inform a new theory, inspire a new research method, and translate to the public.

Bio 

Kristina M. Scharp (Ph.D, University of Iowa) is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University and a Director of the Family Communication and Relationships Lab. She researches the process of marginalization and the ways people cope with the major disruptions to their lives. She has over 90 publications in outlets such as the Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, and Communication Research as well as three co-authored textbooks. In the last few years, she was awarded the International Communication Association’s Early Career Award, NCA Family Communication Division’s Distinguished Article Award, and the Leslie A. Baxter Early Career Award in Family Communication. Her work on family estrangement, in particular, has garnered attention from numerous media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR.

Dr. Travis L. Dixon – Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024

Talk Description 

Professor Dixon will discuss the influence of media stereotyping on psychological and social phenomena. His work will focus on the changing news environment that has accelerated many of the adverse effects of these stereotypes. The talk will help illuminate how digital media may blunt and accelerate these effects.

Bio 

Professor Dixon received his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Professor Dixon is a media effects scholar specializing in investigating the prevalence of stereotypes in the mass media and the impact of stereotypical imagery on audience members. In addition to the dozens of articles Dr. Dixon has published in leading Communication journals, he has received multiple top paper awards from the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association. Dr. Dixon also serves on the editorial boards of some of the leading journals in his field, including Communication Monographs, Communication Research, Human Communication Research, Howard Journal of Communications, Media Psychology, and the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. Much of Dr. Dixon’s work examines racial stereotyping in television news. His more recent investigations scrutinize the content and effects of stereotypes and counter-stereotypes in major news events, social media, and musical contexts. He is the David L. Swanson Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication, and he has partnered with community groups attempting to address racial inequity.

Dr. Jeffrey A. Hall – Thursday, March 21st, 2024

Talk Description 

Social media is bad for you, right? Perhaps it is beneficial for some people at some times and detrimental for others at other times? This presentation will examine the research consensus and public opinion consensus regarding the harms of social media. It will advance two concepts – irony and context – to help explain contradictions and confusion in both research and popular opinion. A contemporary approach that embraces these contradictions will be advanced to explain when and why social media can contribute to digital thriving.

Bio 

Jeffrey A. Hall (Ph.D, University of Southern California) is a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas and is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. He is the director of the relationships and technology lab at the University of Kansas: https://randtlab.ku.edu. In 2023, he was the recipient of the University Scholarly Achievement Award for social sciences and professional programs at the University of Kansas. His book, Relating Through Technology (Cambridge University Press), was featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN, and won two Top Book Awards from the National Communication Association (Gerald R. Miller, Human Communication & Technology). He is the former Chair of the Human Communication and Technology Division of the National Communication Association and the current Chair of the Interpersonal Communication Division at the International Communication Association. He has written on building friendships, navigating digital media, and forming meaningful connections for the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of over 80 articles and the recipient of several major research awards, including an early-career award from the National Communication Association. His forthcoming book with Dr. Andy Merolla, Moments to Connect, will be published by Yale University Press.

Dr. Matthew Worwood – Tuesday, February 20th, 2024

Talk Description 

This interactive presentation will provide a brief introduction to generative AI before embarking on a journey to explore prevalent themes within the domain of generative artificial intelligence and its potential impact on creative industries in 2033 and beyond. Through the use of real-world examples and by applying our knowledge of co-creativity with generative AI, the presentation will highlight some of the essential thinking skills required for those interested in pursuing creative fields in the future.

Bio 

Matthew Worwood is a professor at the University of Connecticut and Director of Digital Media CT (digitalmediact.com). He specializes in Design Thinking and the process of co-creativity, utilizing generative AI tools and Digital Media. Matthew is also the co-host of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, has published various writings on creativity, and is the producer of three low-budget documentary films that explore creativity topics in education. You can follow Matthew Worwood on LinkedIn, where he regularly posts on the topic of Design Thinking and Generative AI.

Dr. Crystal Park  – Tuesday, November 28th, 2023

Talk Description

This talk will first discuss how spirituality can be conceptualized, and then utilize a meaning-making framework to explore the various ways spirituality is related to health. Research findings from the presenter’s studies, including those of cancer survivors and people living with heart failure, will illustrate these linkages.

Bio 

Crystal Park is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at UCONN. Her research focuses on multiple aspects of coping, including the roles of religious/spiritual resources, the phenomenon of perceived stress-related growth, and the making of meaning in the context of traumatic events and life-threatening illnesses, including cancer survivorship and heart failure. Her yoga-related research focuses on the mechanisms through which yoga may affect health and wellbeing and reduce stress, particularly through its fostering of healthier emotion regulation. She is currently the co-principal investigator of an NIH-funded study on the mechanisms of action and of an NIH-funded research network, Mind-Body Measures and Mechanisms of Emotional Wellbeing. She maintains an active research lab, the Spirituality, Meaning, and Health Lab, which is open to both graduate and undergraduate students, and directs the Health Psychology Certificate Program. 

Dr. Michelle A. Holling – Tuesday, October 17th, 2023

Talk Description 

This presentation explores how a rhetorical ecological approach can aid scholars in examining the rhetorical dynamics of coalition building. This approach is based on conducting rhetorical fieldwork with the grassroots community-based Friends of Friendship Park, as well as at Friendship Park, a binational park situated on the San Diego-Tijuana border. Through her research (and that of her co-author Diane Keeling), Dr. Holling advances a rhetorical ecology understanding of “coalition” that is shaped by a diversity of enclaves, memories, and inventional resources.” 

Bio 

Dr. Holling is Professor of Rhetoric at California State University, San Marcos. Her scholarly, teaching, and service commitments are guided by matters of voice, marginality, and identity that anchor in a concern for and dedication to social justice. She is an award-winning scholar who specializes in Chicana/o-Latina/o rhetoric, with additional areas of expertise including race, rhetoric, and violence; testimonio and gendered violence; and women of color in academia, as well as intersectional microaggressions. She has co-edited “Race(ing) Intercultural Communication: Racial Logics in a Colorblind Era” with Dr. Dreama Moon and “Latina/o Discourse in Vernacular Spaces: Somos de Una Voz?” with Dr. Bernadette Calafell.

Professionally, she founded the Communication, Identities, and Difference interest group in the Western States Communication Association (WSCA). She is also a past-president of WSCA and the Organization for Research on Women and Communication. Her leadership also includes being chair of the Communication Department and director of the Ethnic Studies Program. She also serves on several journal editorial boards, the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Women’s Studies in Communication, and Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, among others. Currently, she serves on the board of directors for the GriffinHarte Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting civil conversations in communities, conducting research, and providing education.

Dr. John Besley  – Thursday, March 23rd, 2023

Talk Description

Dr. John C. Besley will share key ideas from his recently released book, Strategic Science Communication (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022, with Anthony Dudo). This book seeks to help bridge the gap between science communication research and practice. For science and risk communicators, he’ll highlight the strategic value of drawing on research into behavior change and trust to help (a) identify concrete, audience-specific behavioral goals, as well as (b) specific cognitive and affective communication objectives aimed at achieving those goals. He will also discuss the importance of delaying decisions about tactics until after choices about objectives. For communication researchers, he’ll also discuss the potential value of conducting more research that either helps communicators make smarter choices or helps communication strategists understand how communicators choose goals, objectives, and tactics. 

The presentation will draw on Dr. Besley’s extensive research into understanding how scientists think about science communication, as well as efforts to outline how social science theory might be used to help scientists think more strategically about their communication choices. This work involves surveys of over 30,000 scientists, interviews with more than 150 scientists and other stakeholders from across the scientific community, and participation in a range of projects aimed at enhancing science communication training and strategic thinking. 

Bio 

Dr. Besley is among the most cited and published science communication/public engagement scholars in the world with more than 100 peer reviewed articles and other reports, as well as funding from a range of governmental (NSF, USDA, etc.) and foundation sources (Kavli, Rita Allen, Chan/Zuckerberg, etc.). He earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University (2006) , is the associate editor for risk communication for the journal Risk Analysis, and is on the editorial boards of Science Communication, Environmental Communication, Public Understanding of Science, the Journal of Science Communication, and the Journal of Risk Research. 

Dr. Francisco R. Ortega – Thursday, March 2nd, 2023

Talk Description 

Forest bathing is the practice of immersing oneself in a natural environment through sensory experiences for stress relief and mental resource restoration. Forest bathing offers numerous positive effects that can improve people’s mental health; however, many individuals who are in the most need of stress reduction benefits often lack access to nature, such as those in hospitals, nursing homes, and large cities. Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to increase accessibility to the benefits of nature by delivering immersive nature simulations that provide similar benefits. To create an effective virtual nature environment (VNE), research is needed on the components of a natural environment that make forest bathing effective. Additionally, a key issue with creating VNEs is making them deployable on accessible, everyday VR headsets, such as the Oculus Quest 2. This talk will discuss the results from an initial experiment showing the potential of biomass, or living green nature, as an essential component for the restorative effect. The talk will also cover a follow-up experiment on the importance of biomass realism, or the fidelity of the plant life, on restorative effects, as less complex assets may be more feasible for deploying on everyday VR devices. 

Bio 

Francisco R. Ortega is an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University (CSU) and Director of the Natural User Interaction lab (NUILAB). Dr. Ortega earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science (CS) with a focus on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and 3D User Interfaces (3DUI) from Florida International University (FIU), under the guidance of Dr. Naphtali Rishe and Dr. Armando Barreto. He also held the position of Post-Doc and Visiting Assistant Professor position at Florida International University between February 2015 and July 2018. His research has focused on multimodal and unimodal interaction (gesture-centric), which includes gesture recognition and elicitation (e.g., a form of participatory design). His main research area focuses on improving user interaction by (a) multimodal elicitation, (b) developing interactive techniques, and (c) improving augmented reality visualization techniques. The primary domains for interaction include immersive analytics, assembly, Navy use cases, and collaborative environments using augmented reality headsets.

His research has resulted in over 76 peer-reviewed publications, including books, journals, conferences, workshops, and magazine articles, in venues such as IEEE TVCG, ACM PACMHCI, ACM ISS, ACM SUI, and IEEE 3DUI, among others. He is the first author of Interaction Design for 3D User Interfaces: The World of Modern Input Devices for Research, Applications, and Game Development book by CRC Press.  Dr. Ortega has experience with multiple government-funded projects. For example, Dr. Ortega was a co-PI for the DARPA Communicating with Computers project. He is currently a PI for a 3-year effort for ONR titled Perceptual/Cognitive Aspects of Augmented Reality: Experimental Research and a Computational Model.

He was recently awarded a new ONR grant titled Assessing Cognitive Load and Managing Extraneous Load to Optimize Training. The National Science Foundation has also funded him and is a sub-awardee for an ONR project from Virtual Reality Rehab. Since his initial tenure-track appointment at CSU from August 2018 to August 2022, Dr. Ortega has brought over 3.3 million dollars in external funding (2.8 million dollars as principal investigator.) Recently, Dr. Ortega has been recommended for the financing of the NSF CAREER starting in 2023. Ultimately, Dr. Ortega is dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion, and his goal is to increase the representation of underrepresented minorities in the field of computer science.  

Dr. Alexandra Paxton – Tuesday, November 29th, 2022  

Talk Description

Most of us intuitively recognize the flow and connectedness of social interaction, but that fundamental reality can be overlooked in scholarly research. In my talk, I will discuss the view of interpersonal communication as a complex dynamical system. Dynamical systems theory provides an avenue for scholars to embrace the messy reality of communication, both theoretically and analytically. By viewing communication as a complex dynamical system, we can quantify the ways in which communication changes according to context (including goals, physical spaces, and relationships) and over time (and across timescales), along with the emergent properties of the communication system (including the ties between communicating individuals’ behavior, cognition, and emotion). To illustrate this idea, I will present a series of studies in dynamical systems perspective in real-world and experimental settings. 

Bio 

Dr Paxton’s work focuses on improving our understanding of communication and interaction with a data-rich and complex-systems approach, particularly in how context changes behavior. Her research interests include: Communication and social interaction as a complex dynamical system (including movement, language, attention, and emotion), data-rich and dynamics-focused research methods and analyses, naturally occurring datasets and “big data” for psychological theory-building, and ethics of human-derived data. 

Hilary Kraus, MSI – Tuesday, October 25th, 2022  

Bio 

Hilary Kraus, MSI, is the Research Services Librarian at the University of Connecticut and the subject specialist for the fields of Psychological Sciences and Kinesiology.  She has served as a health sciences and science librarian at Loyola University Chicago and DePaul University, and most recently as Nursing & Health Librarian at UMass Dartmouth.  Hilary holds a BA in English and Creative Writing from Northwestern University and an MS in Information Science from the University of Michigan.  A Chicago native, she relocated to New England in 2008.  In her spare time, she is an avid reader and crafter. 

Dr. Hyunjin Kang – Tuesday, April 12th, 2022 

Talk Description

The increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how we interact and communicate with everyday technologies. Current smart technologies capable of producing information and directly communicating with users are deployed for various communication contexts. Indeed, the rise of machine agency is a notable fundamental change that AI has brought to our experience with communication technology. However, fulfilling autonomy is one of the basic needs for humans, suggesting that the rise of machine agency leads to an essential agency tension among the users; the key sources of such psychological tensions are the loss of agency and privacy. Dr. Kang discusses how users negotiate agency when interacting with AI-based technology, and the impacts of AI vs. human agency on the persuasiveness of the technology and users’ privacy management decisions. The presentation will include research findings and implications from recently completed studies in IoT and algorithm-based social media (i.e., TikTok) contexts using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. 

Bio 

Hyunjin Kang (PhD, Penn State University) is an Assistant Professor in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Her research focuses on the psychological effects of interactive communication technologies on communication processes and user behaviors. Her work has been published in many communication and HCI journals, including New Media and Society, Media Psychology, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, and Computers in Human Behaviors. She is a recipient (PI) of Meta (Facebook) Research award. Her research project on social media users’ expectations and experiences with digital privacy will be funded by Meta Research. 

Dr. John Crowley – Tuesday, April 5th, 2022 

Bio 

My research, teaching, and service focus on understanding how to help individuals, especially those within marginalized or historically underrepresented communities build resilience to cope with the stress associated with difficult and discriminatory life experiences. My research has focused on disclosure, forgiveness, and social support. Examination of the reciprocal relationships between interpersonal communication and biology, however, is the foundation of all of my work. I am a member of a small cohort of communication scholars working to pioneer the study of the physiology of interpersonal communication, particularly in the use of biosocial models to understand the effects of coping for recipients of hurtful and discriminatory communication (both covert and overt), and am actively training graduate students in the use of these methods. 

My work has appeared in flagship communication journals (e.g., Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs) and in top journals specializing in health (e.g., Health Communication) and relationships (e.g., Personal Relationships). I am also the 2020 recipient of the Early Career Award from the interpersonal communication division of the National Communication Association. 

Our current research projects are funded by both the Villanova University’s Waterhouse Family Institute for the Study of Communication and Society (WFI) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) from the National Institute of Health (NIH). Lastly, I am the proud recipient of the Center for the Study of Diversity at the University of Delaware’s 2020 Faculty Diversity Fellowship grant. 

Dr. Charisse L’Pree – Thursday, March 3rd, 2022  

Talk Description 

The relationship between communication technologies – or the tools that we use to communicate – and our psychology is inseparable. We come to understand ourselves through the way we communicate. Although these conversations are commonplace with respect to older communication technologies (e.g., written language, printing press), it is often dismissed when discussing more modern technologies, like consumer-market cameras, cable television, and video gaming. This talk will focus on how these technologies have fostered novel ways of communicating, interpersonally and intrapersonal, to better understand – and possible predict – the future of communication and human psychology. 

Bio 

Charisse L’Pree Corsbie-Massay is an Associate Professor of Communications at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She holds BS degrees in Brain and Cognitive Science and Comparative Media Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MA degree from the School of Cinematic Arts and a PhD in Social Psychology from University of Southern California. Charisse investigates how users think about themselves and others via media. Her work includes articles in Psychological Inquiry and AIDS and Behavior, as well as book chapters addressing serious games, race and gender methodology, and media use among marginalized populations. Her most recent book, Twentieth Century Media and the American Psyche (Routledge, 2021), describes how our relationships with media emulate interpersonal relationships through their ability to replicate intimacy, regularity, and reciprocity. At Syracuse University, she teaches classes on communication and diversity to professional media students, specifically how do media affect our understanding of different social categories and how do the social categories of media producers affect the media with which we all engage. Charisse was also awarded Teacher of the Year from the graduating class of 2017. Her upcoming book, Diversity and Satire: Laughing at Processes of Marginalization, is currently in press with Wiley. 

Dr. Stephen Stifano – Tuesday, December 7th, 2021  

Talk Description

Researchers often create multimedia stimuli to examine the behavior of individuals – but the quality, realism, and context of these stimuli can sometimes be lacking.  As a consequence, results hinging on a poor stimulus can lead researchers to make flawed conclusions with little real-world relevance.  In this talk, Dr. Stephen Stifano (Associate Professor in-Residence, Communication) will discuss important considerations when designing multimedia stimuli from both methodological and design perspectives.  Using examples from numerous stimuli he has created for a range of researchers, Dr. Stifano will discuss his process and priorities when designing a multimedia stimulus, and provide some tips for researchers to strengthen the stimuli they use in their own experiments. 

Bio 

Steve Stifano is an Associate Professor in-Residence at the University of Connecticut. He is an academic with a quantitative research background who also works as a designer, event producer, and independent filmmaker. His research considers the role of emotion in the creation and consumption of narrative media. Recently, he has been examining how emotional education can be used to improve the narratives of texting-and-driving and safer sex public service announcements. In addition, Dr. Stifano provides training for the department’s teaching assistants, lectures for and coordinates the introductory communication course, and has led the effort to revive digital media production courses in the department. 

Dr. Bernadette Gailliard – Thursday, November 4th, 2021 

Talk Description 

There continue to be calls for communication researchers to translate their scholarship into practice, yet there are few spaces that discuss the pathways available to scholars seeking to do this with their work. This talk will discuss insights and lessons learned as Dr. Gailliard navigates her career path from researcher to university administrator and entrepreneur. It will highlight critical decision points as well as potential opportunities for faculty and graduate students alike to blend academic pursuits with public practice. 

Bio 

Bernadette M. Gailliard, PhD is a scholar and research consultant whose work examines the experiences of underrepresented groups within organizations, focusing on identity issues and career socialization. Her current work examines the experiences of faculty of color in higher education. Dr. Gailliard uses this scholarship to inform her role as Director of Racial Equity and Early Career Support at Rutgers University where she has five years of experience developing and delivering professional development and evidence-based diversity trainings for professionals both inside and outside of the academy. 

As a consultant, Dr. Gailliard designs and leads high-level research projects to assess program and organizational impact across diverse constituencies. She also supports organizational leaders with the development and implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. This work both informs and is informed by her research and teaching in Intercultural Communication and Organizational Communication at Rutgers School of Communication and Information. 

Dr. Gailliard holds both Doctorate and Masters degrees in Organizational Communication from the University of California Santa Barbara and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from American University. Her published research can be found in Management Communication Quarterly, Annals of the International Communication Association (formerly Communication Yearbook), and Human Relations. 

COMM COVID-19 Panel – Thursday, April 8th, 2021  

Watch the COVID-19 Panel Recording

Talk Description 

Questions from quarantine and lessons in lockdown: Examining the COVID-19 pandemic from a communication perspective 

The panel will feature three projects that received funding from InCHIP last spring:  

My president, but not my governor: Understanding perceptions of blame during the COVID-19 outbreak in Connecticut 
Christine Gilbert, Kenneth Lachlan, and Stephen Stifano 
Presented by: Christine Gilbert 

Exploring the effects of social isolation, relational quality, and communication on couples’ relational and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic 
Amanda Denes, Talea Cornelius, Katrina Webber, Chelsea Guest, Julia A. Ellis, and Amy A. Gorin 
Presented by: Chelsea Guest 

Unmasking racial disparities amidst dual pandemics: Examining social identity threat and emotion within the health belief model to understand mask-wearing intentions among Black, Latinx, and Asian individuals in the U.S. 
Katrina Webber, Sara Stifano, Stephen Stifano, and Shardé Davis 
Presented by: Katrina Webber 

Dr. Meryl Alper – Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021 

Talk Description 

The benefits of “accessible” media and technology for people with disabilities are rarely questioned, nor considered within broader critical/cultural frameworks. In this talk, based on an article recently published in the International Journal of Communication, I make a contribution to the field of communication by proposing critical media access studies to further define a growing area of inquiry into contested notions of mediated access, drawing on work from disability media studies and critical access studies in architectural design. My proposal for critical media access studies is furthered through a case study of physical spaces designed for media engagement for young people (e.g., gaming arcades, movie theaters) that provide “autism-friendly” programming. Qualitative analysis of interviews and observations with autistic children and their families, as well as participant observation in such sites, reveals ideological assumptions, frictions, and contradictions underpinning cultural accessibility. Critical media access studies can offer communication scholars valuable theoretical and conceptual tools for deconstructing power, visibility, and marginality in mediated space. 

Bio 

Meryl Alper is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern University, where she researches the social and cultural implications of communication technologies, with a focus on disability and digital media, children and families’ technology use, and mobile communication. Dr. Alper is the author of Digital Youth with Disabilities (MIT Press, 2014) and Giving Voice: Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality (MIT Press, 2017), which was awarded a 2018 PROSE Award Honorable Mention from the Association of American Publishers and the 2018 Outstanding Publication in the Sociology of Disability Award from the American Sociological Association. In her research and teaching, Dr. Alper draws on over 15 years of professional experience in educational children’s media as a researcher, strategist, and consultant with Sesame Workshop, PBS KIDS, Nickelodeon, and Disney. Prior to joining the faculty at Northeastern, Dr. Alper earned her doctoral and master’s degrees from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies and History from Northwestern University, as well as a certificate in Early Childhood Education from UCLA. 

 Dr. Stacie Powers – Tuesday, March 16th, 2021  

Talk Description 

A solid background in research methods can take you places you never imagined. In this talk I will describe the field of program evaluation, how I stumbled into it (and how you can be more strategic!), and some of the surprising and rewarding connections between what I do now and what I did in my time at UConn. 

Bio 

Stacie R. Powers, PhD, is the founder and CEO of REVA Group, an independent firm specializing in program evaluation. She has worked in this field since 2013, primarily with clients in education, healthcare, and the arts. She has led evaluations for Cleveland Play House, Women’s Sports Foundation, Girls Inc. of New York City, Atlantic Philanthropies, Up2Us Sports, and Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, among many others. 

Stacie received a PhD in Communication from the University of Connecticut in 2009. Prior to becoming an evaluator, she held a variety of other research-related roles for over 20 years—from reference librarian to university writing coach to assistant professor—each offering a valuable perspective on teaching others how to address complex, real-world data challenges. Through these varied experiences, Stacie developed an approach to communicating about research that is both evidence-based and human-centered. She regularly presents at the American Evaluation Association conference and is frequently invited to speak about evaluation to professionals supporting the nonprofit sector.