Yihan (Danny) Jia

Danny’s research intersects human-computer interaction, positive media psychology, and neuroscience. He examines how user engagements with/through immersive media (e.g., video games and virtual/mixed reality) enhance users’ behavioral and psychological well-being, spanning both short-term and long-term effects. In addressing these questions, he utilizes a combination of quantitative social science methods, including experiments, surveys, and biometrics. His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and consistently featured at conferences by the International Communication Association (ICA) and the National Communication Association (NCA).

Ekaterina Novozhilova

Ekaterina’s research interests encompass human-computer interaction, human-centered AI, chatbots, and virtual companions. She conducted multiple projects exploring public perceptions of AI systems deployment across various societal contexts, including education, healthcare, journalism, and creative arts. Ekaterina is a member of the AI in Emerging Media research group, affiliated with the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science and Engineering, which applies computational methods to understand public communication flows in the age of AI.

Contribution on NSF-funded grants: BIGDATA: IA: Multiplatform, Multilingual, and Multimodal Tools for Analyzing Public Communication in over 100 Languages

Convergence HTF: A Research Coordination Network to Converge Research on the Socio-Technological Landscape of Work in the Age of Increased Automation

Recent publications:

Novozhilova, E., Mays, K., Paik, S., Katz, J. (2024). More Capable, Less Benevolent: Trust Perceptions of AI systems across Societal Contexts. Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction.

Novozhilova, E., Mays, K.K., Huang, D., Lee, H. & Katz, J.E. (2023, October). Where in society will AI agents fit? A proposed framework for understanding attitudes toward AI occupational roles from theoretical perspectives of status, identity, and ontology. The 24th Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers. Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Paik, S. Bonna, S., Novozhilova, E., Gao, G., Kim, J., Wijaya, D., Betke, M. (2023, September). The Affective Nature of Generative News Images: Impact on Visual Journalism. Affective Computing + Intelligent Interaction (ACII) Conference of the Association for the Advancements of Affective Computing (AAAC). MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA. USA.

Novozhilova, E., Mays, K., Katz, J. (2022). Looking Towards an Automated Future: U.S. Attitudes Towards Future Artificial Intelligence Instantiations and Their Effect. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

Jessy (Jiaxin) Wang

With a professional background in the media industry and mental health sector, Jessy Wang has witnessed the impact of media on audiences’ perception, emotions, and mental well-being. Transitioning from practical roles in these fields to an academic research position, Wang has focused on the psychological interplay between media and users in everyday life. Their research delves into how emerging media technologies influence and potentially enhance interpersonal relationships and mental health.

Maria Elizabeth (Betsi) Grabe

Betsi Grabe is the Dalton Family Professor in Communications and the director of the Division of Emerging Media Studies at the College of Communication at Boston University since January 2024.

Before that she was a faculty member at Indiana University (IU) for 27-and-a-half years in the legacy School of Journalism and Department of Telecommunications. When The Media School was established at IU, she served as the first Associate Dean from 2015-2019. In 2022 she was named a Provost Professor at IU. Most of Grabe’s research focused on informed citizenship and political participation. She uses experimental methods to investigate how news message reception varies among different demographic groups and across different modalities and styles of news packaging. Recently, Grabe’s focus has shifted from informed to d/misinformed citizenship–producing insights into the navigational resilience of citizens in crowded and polluted information environments. She was a Principal Investigator at the Observatory on Social Media (OsoMe) at IU. Her book, Image Bite Politics: News and the Visual Framing of Elections (with Erik Bucy; Oxford University Press, 2009), received the 2010 Outstanding Book Award from the International Communication Association and the 2010 Distinguished Book Award from the Communication and Social Cognition Division of the National Communication Association. She was the chair of the International Communication Association’s Journalism Studies Division from 2008 to 2010. She is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and the previous editor of Communication Theory.

Born and raised in South Africa, she worked as a television news documentary producer during the State of Emergency in the mid-1980s.

Gina Gayle

Gina Gayle is a photojournalist, educator, and researcher earning her doctorate in Mass Communications from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with research interests in media credibility, innovation, new technologies, the future of photojournalism, and digital media entrepreneurship. Her coursework has included traditional research methods along with ethnography, experimental research methods, Q Methodology, as well as applied research in new media, data visualization, data analytics, Gayle has created curriculum in multimedia storytelling at the University of Southern Mississippi and media entrepreneurship and innovation for the Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the Newhouse School. Gayle has taught multimedia, photojournalism, entrepreneurship, and media management courses. Her professional work has taken her across the United States as well as to Cuba and Italy while previously working in New York City with clients including numerous new organizations, papers, and magazines.

Gayle received recognition for her work with awards and fellowships including the Hearst Newspaper Journalism Fellowship and the NABJ Gulf Coast Fellowship allowing her to continue working on personal projects such as her New Orleans Zulu project, about the recovery of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Other projects include the Picture Me project, telling the stories of children in foster care waiting for their forever families in Mississippi, The Black on Black Love Project, and the one closest to her heart, the autoethnographic and multimedia project that involves the photography collection of her late father, Mr. James F. Gayle, the first Black photographer at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Miguel Oliveira

Miguel Oliveira has been driving business and product growth in startups and large corporations, in the US and abroad for more than two decades.

His functional experience spans brand management, business development, strategic planning, marketing, sales, business planning, general management and team leadership as an executive.

Following stints in the automotive and aviation industries, in 2000 Oliveira moved to e-commerce and video games. After setting up the US sub for an international publisher, Oliveira launched his own company distributing games online (acquired by SCI/Eidos in 2007). Oliveira joined Encore Publishing (3d largest software retail publisher), followed by WildTangent (largest preloaded online games network), which was acquired by gamigo AG, a leading games publisher headquartered in Germany. At gamigo, Oliveira is the CEO of the group’s portals business unit and is responsible for the group’s M&A activities.

Natalie Tassy

About Natalie Tassy

In my role as a Career Counselor, I work to help undergraduates, graduates, and alumni from the College of Communication utilize career resources and work towards their professional goals. I also build and facilitate workshops and events that aid in career exploration, development, and networking.

Having worked with first-generation college students for years, I value the ability to help students gain confidence in themselves and have the context to make informed decisions about their future. This perspective has motivated my work as a higher education professional.

Hometown: Framingham, MA

First Job: Groundcrew at Virgin Atlantic

Advice to students: Never be afraid to make changes. It’s important to be self-aware, know when something isn’t working for you, and to pivot when necessary.

Favorite Career Guide: Resume Guide

Education:

Boston College, Higher Education – International Perspectives, MA

Emmanuel College, Political Science, BA

Amy McHugh

Amy McHugh is a senior communications executive with a focus on health care. She has 25+ years of strategic communications experience, including more than a decade as a working journalist. Previous roles include anchor/reporter/producer at ABC and CBS- affiliated stations across New England and senior vice president at a Boston-based PR firm. She is currently director of media relations at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

Christopher B. Lee

Chris Lee is a senior lecturer and AdLab advisor in BU’s College of Communication. He comes to academia as an award-winning, multiple hat-wearing, executive creative director/writer at top agencies like Mullen, Hill Holliday and Leo Burnett. He has 25+ years of experience developing brand strategy and omnichannel creative content programs in industries ranging from global enterprise software to local supermarkets and pro sports teams—including the Boston Bruins and the Celtics. Be sure to ask Chris about a TED Talk that sprang from a viral rap anthem he produced with Boston Police officers and the Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester.

Over his career, Chris has taught continuing education and college-level courses at Bentley College, Suffolk University and at BU’s very own Creative Cafe portfolio reviews. His focus is on what real world, mission-driven advertising is all about. And how the best creative work (AI or no AI) springs from great business strategy.

When not heads-down with creative endeavors and social causes, you’ll find Chris soaking up the sun with his family on Priscilla Beach in Plymouth.

Erica Hill

Award-winning journalist Erica Hill serves as a CNN anchor and national correspondent. She contributes to CNN, CNN International, and CNN Max.

Throughout her wide-ranging career, Hill has led coverage of major domestic and international news stories from both the field and the studio, including U.S. presidential elections, a global pandemic, mass shootings, hurricanes, and more. She was a lead correspondent for CNN’s pandemic coverage and co-hosted six CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall specials for families about COVID-19, one of which earned the network’s first-ever Daytime Emmy Award nomination. 

Prior, Hill was co-anchor of NBC’s Weekend TODAY. She also served as an anchor and correspondent for the network, contributing to TODAY, NBC Nightly News and MSNBC. Previously, she spent several years at CBS News as co-host of the network’s flagship morning broadcast.

Hill first joined CNN and HLN in 2003, as an anchor and technology correspondent. She began her career as a production assistant at the former cable network ZDTV / TechTV, and quickly worked her way up to producer, before becoming an anchor and reporter for the network.

Hill was part of the NBC News team that won a 2013 Peabody Award for the network’s cross-platform effort, “In Plain Sight: Poverty in America”; in 2015, the Alliance for Women in Media honored her with the Gracie Award for Outstanding Correspondent. She serves on the Board of Directors at Americares, and the Dean’s Advisory Board for Boston University’s College of Communication. Hill is based in CNN’s New York City bureau.