Boston University

Studies how mediated communication shapes social capital and health outcomes, building media-effects theory and designing and evaluating health campaigns, including in Africa.

Studies American independent cinema and film criticism, especially John Cassavetes, through critical and historical analysis connecting film to pragmatist philosophy and American art.

Studies informed and misinformed citizenship, using experiments on how news reception varies across demographic groups, modalities, packaging styles, and visual framing of elections.

Studies how health messaging, social norms, and peer influence in new media promote healthy behavior, using AI, machine learning, and social media analytics on vaping and vaccines.

Studies US television history, censorship and industry self-regulation, and the construction of death in radio, podcasting, and TV, through historical and critical analysis.

Studies the social and ethical implications of AI, social media, and human-robot interaction, examining how new communication technologies shape society and perceptions of the future.

Practices and teaches narrative nonfiction and investigative journalism, writing books and podcasts on crime, policing, race, and civil rights history.

Studies journalism history and literary journalism and writes biographies of writers and musicians, such as Hunter S. Thompson and the Key West arts scene.

Studies how news coverage takes shape and how citizens learn about and participate in politics, using conventional and computational methods to examine interactive media systems.

Studies international communication and how emotional and image-based reactions to political figures shape voter decisions and perceptions of other nations.

Studies strategic communication management and how AI reshapes public-organization relationships, employee communication, and organizational change, including professionals' AI adoption.

Practices and teaches narrative nonfiction and investigative journalism, writing bestselling books on events such as 9/11 and Benghazi.

Studies the persuasive effects of misinformation, native advertising, and climate disinformation and efforts to correct them, using qualitative and quantitative methods.

Studies psychological processing of media and human-computer interaction, including multitasking, task-switching, and presence and empathy in immersive VR, using physiological measures.

Practices and teaches screenwriting and fiction writing for film, television, and opera, and writes on the craft of screenwriting.

Studies public relations education and the politics and public relations of congressional press secretaries, promoting interdisciplinary scholarship.

Studies how communication forms and changes belief systems such as brand beliefs, country images, and intergroup perceptions, using psychometric and mathematical models.

Studies American and European narrative and avant-garde cinema, film and cultural theory, and gay and lesbian film history through critical and historical analysis.

Studies television industries, genre, and fandom, including how US TV production negotiated Christianity in prime-time dramas, through industry and textual analysis.

Studies how organizations use strategic communication and emerging media, including generative AI, to engage stakeholders on sociopolitical issues via surveys, experiments, and computational methods.

Studies how publics perceive and communicate about controversial issues such as vaccine hesitancy, climate denial, and corporate misconduct, extending the situational theory of problem solving.

Produces and directs documentaries for public television on cultural and social issues, including AIDS in South Africa and the legacy of Hiroshima.

Studies US presidential campaigns, nominating conventions, and the rhetoric of presidential spouses through rhetorical analysis of public address.

Studies why audiences enjoy and appreciate entertainment, narratives, and games and how media shape well-being, using experiments, physiological measures, and computational visual analysis.

Practices and teaches screenwriting and comedy writing for television and animation, drawing on a career in stand-up comedy and animated sitcoms.

Studies how people use social media and dating apps to connect, including compulsive social media use during news events and privacy management, bridging mass and interpersonal communication.

Studies media manipulation, disinformation, and networked social movements, including how meme culture became a political communication strategy reshaping US politics.

Produces and directs documentary and fiction films and audio documentaries, including work on American film criticism and Jewish life.

Studies how new media technologies shape health behavior and mental well-being, designing vaccination campaign messages and exploring VR to ease distress with conventional and computational methods.

Practices and teaches screenwriting and television production, especially situation comedy, drawing on a long career writing for network and streaming TV.

Studies public opinion on contentious issues such as vaccination, immigration, and AI, using NLP, time series, and network analysis of news and social media plus surveys and experiments.

Practices and teaches television and comedy writing, drawing on decades of writing and producing sitcoms for network TV, Disney Channel, and Netflix.

Studies how organizations communicate authentically with stakeholders to build trust, focusing on prosocial corporate communication and corporate social advocacy in the AI era across global contexts.

Studies persuasion in social media marketing, including how influencers, virtual influencers, and message strategies shape ad avoidance and credibility, and effects of immersive media and AI.

Studies how state and non-state actors propagate supremacist ideologies online, attending to race, gender, and religion, using automated text and visual analysis and network analysis.

Studies children's media, representation, and identity socialization, including how US Black families use media to socialize children about identity and after experiences of racism.

Studies how media and popular culture shape adolescent development, focusing on gender, sexualization, and humor in TV and comedy, using qualitative and quantitative methods.

Studies how online media audiences form in a fragmented digital environment, using computational methods, network analysis, and passively measured audience data.

Practices and teaches screenwriting and film adaptation, adapting memoirs and developing feature, television, and short film scripts.

Studies how the internet was socially constructed as a First Amendment speech system, taking a critical historical approach to the legal regulation of platforms and AI.

Practices film editing and directing for narrative features and short films screened at major international festivals.

Studies authenticity and transparency in digital advertising and consumer responses to AI and emerging ad technologies, including human-AI interaction and advertising ethics.

Studies internal public relations, leadership communication, organizational change management, and corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility, including AI in public relations.