Research Areas
Communication is at the heart of the human experience, the messages that resonate with it, and the media and technologies that shape it. My research areas below try to capture the diversity—and beauty—of this research field.
Media Psychology
Media Psychology is a relatively new field built atop psychological and communicative principles; it aims to study the impact of mass media (entertainment, news, social media, etc.) on and between individuals. In other words, it's the study of human communication that is transformed by technology. My research takes into account the good, the bad, and the ugly consequences of media use, and ultimately tries to coordinate ways in which media can improve the world—one story at a time.
Information Integrity
The accuracy, completeness, and validity of information belie its integrity; and if you are even an infrequent internet user, you likely know that the internet is rife with inaccurate, incomplete, and invalid information. My research here looks at how individuals fall victim to misinformation and disinformation, and particularly the imagined causal links and patterns within their information ecosystem. At its core, my work strategizes how to maximize the impact of "good" information and how to minimize the impact of "bad" information.
Environmental & Political Communication
No matter whether my project is academic, entrepreneurial, or personal, chances are that is has some implication for sustainability or policy. We live in a world that necessitates sustainable development (be it greener energy sources or food options), but that also sees such development as increasingly polarized. I'm interested in exploring non-polarizing (or even de-polarizing) ways to make the world better for future generations. I am an active member of the International Communication Association's Environmental Communication Division, and its Political Communication Division.
