I\u2019ve been doing research for several years. I graduated in 2014 with a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin and my main area is in media effects\u2014basically how traditional media influences public. When I was doing research previously and when we analyzed public opinion, we used to have to do a survey. Nowadays, we have social media, we have tweets, we have Facebook, and we can access public opinion through these emerging media platforms. That\u2019s one part of my research. I also have an interest in how ordinary people can use emerging media sites to express their needs and share their voices. I do this research in both America and China, which is my home country.<\/p>\n
Currently, I teach mainly two courses. One is Communication Research (CM321\/CM722) for both undergraduate and graduate students. The other is Developing Interactivity (EM757\/EM889). In this course, I teach not only theoretical concepts about this interactive media environment but also hands-on skills so students can learn how to research and develop an interactive website.<\/p>\n
In the spring 2016 semester, I will be teaching Computer Assisted Text Analysis (EM855), which is about using computer-assisted methods to analyze large-scaled data, for example, millions of tweets. <\/p>\n
Students in the EMS program should be very open-minded. The reason we call it \u201cemerging media studies\u201d is because everything is changing. Everything is new media. Students might have some thoughts about what they want to do next, but they need to know that everything is changing\u2014technology, our mindsets. Students will learn a lot of theories and skills and they may not expect that.<\/p>\n