Programs › Orange, CA
Studies how people communicatively negotiate difficult relational interactions such as conflict, jealousy, caregiving, chronic illness and online surveillance, and their health correlates.
Studies media psychology: how audiences choose, process and are influenced by media, including parasocial bonds with characters and celebrities, racial stereotypes, identity and media literacy.
Studies culture, African American rhetorical traditions, social movement rhetoric and organizational diversity using rhetorical and qualitative methods such as autoethnography.
Studies intercultural and global communication theory, especially communication between East Asia and the West, China's globalization and the Belt and Road Initiative, and peace and harmony.
Studies how young people and parents, especially lower-income and immigrant families, navigate technology use and digital inequality, and develops civil discourse interventions for youth.
Studies the intersection of family and health communication, including mother-daughter relationships, mental health, narratives in health, and substance use prevention programs for youth.
Studies health and risk communication, with emphasis on cancer communication, caregiving and communication in aging.
Studies campaign and strategic message design, audience segmentation and social movement campaigns, with expertise in research methodology and statistics.
Studies theory-driven health campaign messaging, psychological reactance in persuasion, and adult child-parent caregiving communication using quantitative and qualitative methods.
Studies positive media psychology: how traditional and new media shape self-transcendent emotions, prosocial behavior, character development, well-being, spirituality and entertainment enjoyment.
Studies instructional and health communication, including teacher authenticity, student-to-student confirmation, faculty-student talk about mental health, and health campaigns on stimulant misuse.
Studies how beliefs, information and heuristics shape public attitudes toward contentious policies, and applies statistical and computational methods to misinformation correction and public opinion.
Studies how strategic message design interacts with audience identity to shape persuasion, experimentally testing metacognitive and affective processes in health, politics and sustainability.