October 10, 2023 | Kelly Youngblood When Joe Laxamana lost his younger brother Jonathan in December 2022, he and some of their lifelong friends wanted to find a way to honor his memory. “We wanted to find something that connected what Jonathan was about and who he was—and one of his greatest passions in life […]
Shawn P. Fojtik (BS ’85, advertising), CEO of Control Medical Technology and Distal Access, has more than 150 pending and issued medical device patents with over 1 million patients safely treated in cardiovascular, women’s health, cardiac electrophysiology, surgery, interventional oncology, and emergency medicine. Fojtik’s previous work experience includes sales, marketing, product development, and general management […]
Email: rji3@illinois.edu Research Interests My research centers on the psychology of persuasion in digital media, with a particular focus on social media platforms. I investigate how consumers interpret and react to persuasive messages such as advertisements and health-related messages by brands and social media influencers. I am also interested in the effects of misinformation and […]
September 21, 2023 Update 11/9/2023: Watch the recording of “A Conversation with Brian Williams.” Brian Williams, former anchor of MSNBC’s The 11th Hour with Brian Williams and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, will be on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus for a conversation about the evolution of broadcast news in America on Monday, October 23, 7-8 p.m. This event […]
September 18, 2023 | Lois Yoksoulian, University of Illinois News Bureau New research led by data science experts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and United Nations Global Pulse found that there is no strong evidence that YouTube promoted anti-vaccine sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, performed an algorithmic […]
September 18, 2023 The Institute of Communications Research is excited to announce our newest cohort! Please learn more about the students’ research interests below and join us in welcoming them to the University of Illinois College of Media community this fall. For more information, see full student profiles. Weiting Du earned his master’s degree in journalism from Michigan […]
Ronald E. Taylor (MS ’71, advertising; PhD ’83, communications, ICR), devoted scholar, teacher, and mentor, passed away at his home in Tennessee on September 11. After receiving his PhD from the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Taylor joined the University of Tennessee as the head of the Department of Advertising, […]
Email: yanbol2@illinois.edu Research Interests My research interests lie at the intersection of computational communication and political communication. Specifically, I am interested in using computational methods to learn about online misinformation and incivility contagion inside and between different countries and the possible factors that foster these processes. Recent Publications/Presentations Li, Y., & Su, C. (2022). “Toxidization” of […]
Jill Wine-Banks (BS ’64, journalism), MSNBC legal analyst, author, podcast co-host, and former prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, was one of five female lawyers to receive the 2023 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award this summer. The American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession established the award to recognize and celebrate the […]
Email: spark110@illinois.edu Research Interests Se Il is a doctoral student at the Institute of Communications Research (ICR). Se Il’s interdisciplinary research focuses on persuasive messages in the context of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Metaverse, and Web 3.0. He wants to examine the difference in consumer behavior in a more immersive and intelligent virtual […]