Chawannuch Chaikulngamdee

Chawannuch is currently a doctoral candidate in Emerging Media Studies at Boston University's School of Communication. Prior to her time in Boston, she earned her undergraduate degree in Science, Technology, and Society, and her master's degree in Communication, both from Stanford University. Her research primarily focuses on examining the impact of emerging media technologies, specifically social media platforms, on personal well-being. She has conducted studies that delve into the intricate dynamics between digital technologies and race, exploring how racial attitudes are not only shaped but also expressed on virtual platforms. Chawannuch hopes her work can contribute to making social media a space where more minority voices are heard, fostering understanding and communication among people from different cultures.

Beyond her exploration of race, she is conducting her thesis in the domain of social media marketing, particularly its effects on adolescent well-being and the cultivation of materialistic mindsets. Through her investigation, she aims to illuminate the complexities of modern marketing landscapes, with a dedication to nurturing a more compassionate and value-driven environment for young adults.

Benita Dederichs

Benita’s interests lie in film studies, international communication, and media effects. She used social network analysis to study how centrality, based on gender, differs across film genres. She studies how international publics perceive the hard and soft power of countries, and how China’s and Taiwan’s public diplomacy efforts are reported by US and German media. She uses traditional as well as computational approaches in her research. Her publications have been accepted at ICA (International Communication Association) conferences and the APSA (American Political Science Association) conference.

Alex Rochefort

Alex Rochefort is a PhD Candidate in the Division of Emerging Media Studies at Boston University’s College of Communication. His dissertation uses theories of the policymaking process to explain the emergence of digital platform regulation as a public concern in the United States. His broader research interests include platform governance, tech policy, and human rights. Alex’s peer-reviewed articles have appeared in Communication Law and Policy; the Journal of Information Technology and Politics; and Mass Communication and Society.

In addition to his graduate work, Alex is involved in digital rights policy research and advocacy. He was formerly a Google public policy fellow with the NGO Freedom House and, in 2020 and 2021, a contributor to that organization’s annual “Freedom on the Net” report. Alex has also been a policy fellow with Ranking Digital Rights, a civil society organization focused on human rights and corporate accountability. In 2022, he was invited to participate and speak about his work at Oxford University’s Media Policy Summer Institute, and, in 2023, he participated in the Oxford Internet Institute’s Summer Doctoral Program. Alex is currently a graduate research affiliate with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

James Crissman

James Crissman is a current PhD student in Emerging Media Studies (EMS). His studies and research are motivated by a fascination with visual communication, artificial intelligence, policy and governance, and the democratization of information. Drawing from an interdisciplinary academic foundation in history, art, and philosophy, coupled with his professional ventures in both creative and legal realms, James is committed to exploring innovative solutions to the issues arising in our increasingly digital society.

James received his B.A., summa cum laude, in Interdisciplinary Studies from Emory University. His thesis explored the influence of photography on the perception and experience of National Parks in the U.S., illustrating how visual culture has shaped our understanding of natural landscapes. After graduation, he joined an international law firm as a Graphic Designer and Data Visualization Manager. This role allowed him to blend his artistic talents with analytical expertise, translating complex legal narratives into accessible visual formats.

James returned to academia in 2020-2021, and received his M.A. in EMS at Boston University. His Masters culminated in a thesis that examined the dynamics of news coverage and social media discussions surrounding victims of police violence in 2020, revealing the powerful role of social media activists in shaping public discourse and perception.

As a PhD student in EMS, James is currently focused on deepening his expertise in computational methods while exploring how advanced technologies can enhance our understanding of visual communication. His research interests and goals are informed by a strong belief in digital rights and driven by the transformative potential of open, equitable access to information. This includes exploring the potential of artificial intelligence technologies and how visual communications change the way that people access and understand complex information.

Dongpeng Huang

Dongpeng Huang is a Ph.D. student at Boston University’s Emerging Media Studies program. Her research interests include human-machine communication and artificial intelligence (AI) in education. Her work has been presented at conferences, including the International Communication Association (ICA), the National Communication Association (NCA), and the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR). In 2023, she won Boston University’s Accelerating Classroom Transformation (ACT) Grants and conducted quantitative and qualitative research on AI integration in classrooms.

Lilian Naa Korkoi Tackie

Lilian Naa Korkoi Tackie is a copyeditor and a first-year PhD student in the Emerging Media Studies (EMS) program at COM.

For her bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology (double major), Naa Korkoi employed the mixed methods approach to conduct a study focused on the impact of birth order on the personality of teenagers in Ghana. Similarly, Naa completed her Master of Science degree in development finance with a study on the role of social intervention in facilitating financial inclusion among the unbanked in Ghana.

Her degrees were interspersed with years of professional experience in the newsroom (television) as a reporter, digital marketing as a marketing manager, renewable energy as an administration and finance officer, media production as an account manager, factchecking as a project lead, and editorial bureau as a copywriter and copyeditor.

Prior to the start of the PhD program, Naa has been working for with FactSpace West Africa—an IFCN-certified factchecking company—targeted at Anglophone West African countries on factchecking political- and covid-related misinformation on social media. The challenges encountered in the factchecking process informed Naa’s doctoral research interest in the use of AI in factchecking misinformation online. Her rationale for the research interest is that the affordance of AI technologies that facilitate the virality of misinformation and targeted advertisement should equally allow for the facilitation of the spread of corrected messages online. When she is not researching, editing or writing, Naa is either playing a game—Redecor—on her phone or getting her stretches in with her yoga practice.