Doctoral Students

Yasuhito Abe received his B.A. and M.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication Studies from Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan where he authored several theses on the political role of mass medi...

Alexandrina graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Public and Private Sector Organizations, writing her capstone on organizational comparisons between publicly traded and privately held...

Stylés Akira received his B.A. from Pace University, Manhattan in Applied Psychology & Human Relations. He earned his M.A. in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Sociology from St. John...

Laura Alberti graduated from the University of Bologna with a B.A. in Communication and earned her Summa Cum Laude M.A. in Institutional, Social and Political Communication from the University ...

Marcia received a BMus with honours from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and an MA in Twentieth Century Literature and Critical Theory from Goldsmiths College, University of London. ...

Meryl Alper graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern University in 2005, double majoring in Communication Studies and History. She also holds a certificate in Early Childhood Education from ...

Zheng An graduated from Tsinghua University with a BA in Journalism in 2006. She received her MA in Communication from the University of New Mexico in 2008 (thesis on Perceptions of Appropriate...

Janeane Anderson is a third-year doctoral student, studying sexual health communication. Her research interests center on HIV prevention interventions for African-American audiences, especially...

Inna Arzumanova is a sixth-year doctoral candidate in Communication and Annenberg Fellow. She is currently a USC Graduate Dissertation Fellow. Prior to joining the doctoral program at USC, she ...

Shoko received her B.A. in Communication Studies from Ibaraki University in Japan and her M.A. in Communication Studies with a research assistantship from University of Northern Iowa. Her profe...

Amanda’s research interests focus on social networks, organizational communication, and health communication. Amanda is interested in how information and knowledge are communicated in organizat...

Leila Bighash focuses on how technological changes are impacting society, particularly journalism and political communication. She began exploring how the media influences politics (and vice ve...

Emma Bloomfield graduated from Northeastern University Summa Cum Laude with a BA in Communication Studies with a concentration in Public Advocacy and Rhetoric with minors in Spanish and Interna...

Beth Boser is a Doctoral Candidate and Walter Fisher Scholar at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Her research interests include social change rhetoric, feminist and cultur...

Garrett Broad's research investigates the role of media and communication in the promotion of community health and civic vitality. Much of his work focuses on efforts to improve urban environme...

Evan Brody holds a B.S. with honors from Northwestern University’s Department of Communication and an M.A. in Media, Culture, and Communication from New York University. Broadly, his work focus...

Omri Ceren is a PhD Candidate at Annenberg. His dissertation focuses on the persuasive role that identification plays in conspiracy theorizing, examined in rhetorical, psychoanalytic, and argum...

Dayna graduated cum laude in 2005 with a B.A. in Communication from Saint Mary's College of California. She earned her M.A. in Communication from the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a c...

Nancy Chen has an honours degree in Media and Communications from the University of Melbourne and a master degree in Communication from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining t...

Joshua Clark graduated with honors from Queen's University at Kingston with a B.A in Political Studies. He earned an M.A. at the University of British Columbia in the same field. His master's t...

Samantha Close received her B.A. cum laude in English Literature, with distinction in the major, from Yale University. She then continued on to obtain an M.Phil in Digital Design from the Glasg...

Tisha Dejmanee has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales, where she graduated with First Class Honors and the Univ...

Fan Dong is a Ph.D. candidate currently conducting research on digital creativity, innovation industry and social media. She has been a reseacher and practitioner on social media and digital ma...

Kevin Driscoll is a PhD student in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at University of Southern California. His recent research addresses popular technology cultures in the U...

Katherine Elder received her B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of California, Davis. She participated in the University of California, Washington DC program, during whic...

Sandra K. Evans (http://sandrakevans.com/) graduated from Northwestern University with a double-major in Radio, Television and Film, and International Studies. She received an MSc in Global Med...

Brittany Farr is a 3rd year Doctoral Student at Annenberg and a Provost Scholar. She graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 2010 with a B.A. in Folklore and Mythology. Brittany's special f...

Ryan Gillespie is an Assistant Lecturer and PhD Candidate in the Annenberg School. Broadly, his areas of study are normativity & ethics, public culture/public sphere studies, and informal l...

Carmen Gonzalez graduated from USC Annenberg with a B.A. in Print Journalism and Chicano Studies. She then worked for two Latina magazines in Los Angeles before joining the USC Metamorphosis pr...

In 2005, Amy received a B.A. in Communication and Psychology from USC and immediately began work as a project manager at Annenberg overseeing content studies designed to assess gender portrayal...

Kristen Guth graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University with a major in Communication and a minor in International Studies. Prior to her graduate studies, Kristen worked as a journalist fo...

Nikita received her B.A. in Communication and Psychology with honors from the University of Pennsylvania. Upon graduation, she immediately began working as the first Ase Futures Fellow for the ...

Mark Hannah investigates the reciprocity between emerging media and political knowledge, opinion and behavior. An honors graduate of Penn's Annenberg School for Communication (B.A.) and Columbi...

Jennifer has studied communication throughout her scholarly career earning a B.A. from the University of San Diego as well as a M.A. from the Annenberg Communication Management Program. Upon gr...

Renyi Hong received his B.A and M.A. in Communication Studies from the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore. For his Master’s thesis titled “Game Modding and Labour: The Influence of W...

Jinghui "Jove" Hou received her B.S. in Statistics from Fudan University and her M.A. degree in Media Studies from Syracuse University. Jove's research focuses on social psychological factors r...

Selene Hu received her B.A. with a major in Library and Information Science and a minor in Economics at National Taiwan University. She then earned her M.A. in Journalism at National Taiwan Uni...

Jin Huang graduated from Huazhong University of Science & Technology with a double degree in Journalism and Marketing. As a junior, she studied abroad at National University of Singapore, d...

David Jeong is a doctoral student at the Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism. His research interests are in studying the relationship between perceptual/attentional systems and m...

Rebecca Johnson graduated cum laude from the USC Annenberg School in May 2011 with a B.A. in Communication (Entertainment and Society) and a double minor in Music Recording and Advertising. In ...

Adam S. Kahn is a doctoral student in communication at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. He holds a B.S. in computer science, a B.A. in a history, and an M.A. in media st...

Young Ji's research interest centers around cognitive and social factors affecting information and communication behaviors in the contemporary media environment. At Annenberg, she has done rese...

Nahoi Koo received her B.A. in Communication Studies and Economics from Northwestern University. She also has a minor degree in Chinese Language & Culture. During her undergraduate years, s...

Charlotte Lapsansky specializes in communication for international development. Her research interests include communication for social change, entertainment-education, mobiles for development,...

Diana Lee's work focuses on representations of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, age, and other aspects of identity in Unite...

Joel received his BA in political science from Georgia State University in 2008. He went on to receive an MA in communications with an emphasis in rhetorical studies, also from Georgia State Un...

Zhan Li holds a B.A. in Social & Political Sciences and a M.Phil. in Social Anthropology from Cambridge University (Trinity) as well as a S.M. in Comparative Media Studies from MIT. For his...

Jingfang Liu is a Ph.D candidate at Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California. Her broad research interest centers around Information and Communicatio...

Wenlin Liu received her B.A. in Journalism from Peking University, China and M.A. in Communication at the University of Washington, Seattle. Prior to her graduate study, Wenlin interned at the ...

Melissa Loudon began her professional career as a software developer for Cell-Life, a South African non-profit, developing systems for HIV management. She has an undergraduate degree in Geomati...

Li Lu received her B.A. from Peking University with double majors in Publishing Science and World History. She received her M.S. from Communication Department, Cornell University in 2009. Prior...

Jules Mailland graduated from the University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) with an LL.B and a M.C.J.  There, he focused on international law and comparative constitutional law.  He also received...

Theo Mazumdar holds a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and master’s degrees from Columbia University and the University of London. He studies politics in the new media, with an empha...

William McClain graduated summa cum laude from the University of Kansas with a major in Film Studies and a minor in English Literature. For his honors thesis, he examined the relationship betwe...

Ritesh Mehta is interested in the ethnographic study of the production worlds of film and television. He is especially curious about the communicative, cognitive, and creative processes involve...

Aalok Mehta is a doctoral student in communication at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. He focuses on telecommunications policy, including the economic impacts of broadband ...

Jingbo Meng got her Bachelor degree from Peking University, Master degree from The Ohio State University, and is currently a doctoral candidate at Annenberg School. Her research revolves around...

James Milner graduated Magna Cum Laude from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, earning his A.A. in Liberal Arts. He then transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving an S.B. i...

Yujung Nam is a PhD candidate and an Annenberg Fellow at Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, USC. She studies the area of health communication with a focus on social-psychologica...

Previous to his arrival at USC, Russell Newman served as the research director for the national nonprofit advocacy group Free Press. There, he focused on media and telecommunications policy, tr...

Allison studies strategic organizational communication. She's interested in how organizations navigate the new media and information environment given the central role that communication plays ...

Nina O'Brien is a Doctoral Candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. Nina's research focuses on organizational communication a...

Katherine Ognyanova is a Doctoral Candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California. She does research with a bro...

Poong Oh received his B.A. and M.A. in mass communication from Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea; minor in philosophy) and his M.S. in journalism & mass communication from Iowa State Un...

Katrina Pariera received her Master of Arts in Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University in 2009, and her B.A. from Portland State University in Applied Linguistics, wher...

Mina Park graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yonsei University with a B.A. in Mass Communication and a minor in Psychology. She then received an M.A. in Communication from Yonsei University, where ...

Michael Park graduated from the USC’s Annenberg School of Communication and the School of Cinematic Arts, double-majoring in Communication and Cinema-Television. During his time at USC, Michael...

Steven’s research interests focus on the theory and practice of public argumentation and deliberation in contemporary communicative ecologies, particularly as they intersect with questions of i...

Flemming Schneider Rhode received a B.A. cum laude from the University of Richmond with majors in Rhetoric & Communication Studies, Economics, Political Science, and International Studies. ...

Prior to USC, Stephen received a BA in communication studies from UNLV, and an MA in speech communication from CSU-FUllerton. He is currently completing his dissertation on public rhetoric of r...

Scott Sanders studies the development of trust, the evaluation and management of information, and the effect of inauthentic communication within online brand communities. Specifically, he is in...

Angeline (LeeAnn) Sangalang explores psychological processes underlying persuasion and media influence. She investigates messages in health contexts, such as how news and entertainment messages...

Raffi Sarkissian received B.A. degrees with honors in Communication Studies and Sociology from UCLA in 2009 and graduated with an M.A. in Critical Studies from USC’s...

Jaclyn Selby conducts research at the intersection of content industry economics, media and technology policy, and public diplomacy. How can understanding the industrial organization of media i...

Marcus Shepard received his B.A. in Communication Studies from Northwestern University with a specialization in Rhetoric, Media, and Public Culture. In addition to his B.A. in Communication, Sh...

Jieun Shin graduated from Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, with a BA in Mass Communication and Journalism. In 2010, she received her Master of Communication Management from the Universit...

Addison Shockley is from Kansas City and received his BA in Rhetoric and Composition (a customized major) from the University of Central Missouri, where he worked as a peer tutor in the Writing...

Francesca Marie Smith received an honors BA degree in linguistics from Stanford University, studying critical discourse analysis and sociolinguistics in the context of women's magazines and mes...

Minhee Son graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California with a BA in communication. In 2009, she received a MA in visual communication from Yonsei University (Seoul, Kor...

Myoung-Sun (Kelly) Song graduated magna cum laude from Ewha Womans University in South Korea with a B.A. in English Language and Literature. For her senior thesis, she explored the literary tec...

Benjamin Stokes investigates how digital media foster civic engagement, informal learning, and activism. He is currently studying how mobile media and videogames can advance social justice by b...

Kari Storla received a B.A. in speech with a concentration in public and political communication and a minor in applied linguistics from Georgia State University. He...

L. Paul Strait is currently completing a dissertation on the controversies surrounding the development of the next edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical M...

Adam is the Director of Forensics at Arizona State University. His research interests include contemporary and classical rhetoric, political communication, new media communication studies, and ...

Prawit Thainiyom was a 2010-2012 Fulbright scholar from Thailand and graduated from Assumption University with a B.A. in Advertising. He re...

After graduating from the University of Southern California with B.A. in Biological Sciences, Chris began working for his alma mater's Office of Undergraduate Admission, eventually assuming the...

Lena received her BA and MA in 'Communication in Social and Economic Contexts' from Berlin University of the Arts. While mostly focusing on health and organizational communication in her underg...

Rhea Vichot graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Comparative Media Studies in 2004. She attended New York University and attained a Masters in Cinema Studies as well as a...

Neta Kligler-Vilenchik is a Doctoral student at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC. She works with Professor Henry Jenkins on the Media, Activism, Participatory Politi...

George Villanueva pursues questions about the changing global context of community, civil society, democracy, and the city. His dissertation will study issues of sustainable urban development a...

Rong Wang received her B.A. from School of Journalism and Communication, Nanjing University (P.R. China), and her M.A. in Communications and New Media at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences...

Xin graduated with honors from the Department of Russian Language and Literature at Peking University (PKU). During the senior year, she wa...

Wei Wang received her B.A. in Sociology and a second major in Economics from Peking University in July 2011 and will obtain her M.A. in Sociology from Columbia University in May 2012. In her un...

Cynthia received her B.S. from Northwestern University, majoring in Radio/TV/Film and Biological Sciences, and minoring in Asian American Studies. Upon graduating, she produced indie films whil...

Elisheva Weiss graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in political science in May 2007. At Columbia, she did research on Howell Raines’ short tenure as executive editor of The New York ...

Diana is a doctoral candidate of rhetoric and political communication at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Her research interests include global controversies in internat...

Li (Leo) Xiong holds a B.A. in English from Beijing Foreign Studies University, China and an MS in Cultural Studies from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2007, he transferred from the ...

Bei Yan received her double master’s degrees in Global Media and Communications from the London School of Economics and the University of S...

Chi graduated summa cum laude from Middlebury College, with Highest Honors in East Asian Studies. She then taught self-designed liberal arts seminars at a public high school in southern China, ...

Lin Zhang received her B.A. in English Literature from Beijing Foreign Studies University. She spent her undergraduate life reading novels (completed a thesis on female Asian American writers) ...

Nan studies health communication at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Being a firm believer of human agency and sustainable social chang...

Mei Zhou graduated from Peking University with a B.A. in English Language and Literature, and got her M.A. in Communication from the USC Annenberg School for Communication. Her research interes...