Category: Student Profiles

Jiyeon Chang

Jiyeon Chang
Jiyeon Chang

Email: jiyeonc2@illinois.edu

Research Interests

Jiyeon is a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Communications Research. Jiyeon studies media psychology and technology-mediated communication. Her research explores cognitive frameworks to understand perceptions that influence information processing and online behaviors. 

Prior to joining ICR, Jiyeon received her M.A. and B.A. in communication and media from the Ewha Womans University in Korea.

Courses Taught

  • JOUR 101: Interactive Media & You 
  • MACS 100: Intro to Popular TV & Movies

Haochen Ji

Haochen Ji
Haochen Ji

Email: hji10@illinois.edu

Research Interests

Haochen is a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Communication Research. Before joining ICR, she earned her master’s degree in communication from Northwestern University and her bachelor’s degree in public relations with a minor in applied statistics from Boston University. Her primary academic interests focus on the impact of emerging technologies on communication, aiming to promote human-centered technology designs and proactively shaping positive digital communication. She is passionate about exploring how technologies like AI, video games, and interactive media influence people’s online behaviors and psychological well-being. She is also highly interested in utilizing mixed methods, especially computational approaches, to investigate specific problems.

Related Links

Kendra Williams

Kendra Williams
Kendra Williams

Email: klw6@illinois.edu

Research Interests

  • Critical Cultural Studies 
  • Black Popular Culture 
  • Television & Film 
  • Race & Media Representation

Recent Publications/Presentations

Williams, K., McKoy, C. D. (2023, November 17). Abbott Elementary: Utilizing Critical Communication Pedagogy, Intercultural Communication, and Social Justice within the Classroom to Decenter Whiteness. National Communication Association, National Harbor, MD. 

Williams, K. (2023, April, 13). If Beale Street Could Talk: Representation, Colorism & Black Womanhood. Southern States Communication Association Conference, Tampa, FL.

Duo Wang

Duo Wang
Duo Wang

Email: dw36@illinois.edu

Research Interests

Duo Wang is a researcher and entrepreneur committed to exploring the convergence of mixed reality and generative AI for the next generation of immersive interaction and 3D storytelling. Research interests include:

  • Virtual/Augmented Reality (VR/AR)
  • Human-AI Communication in Virtual Environments
  • XR+AI Simulation in Healthcare
  • Generative AI in Immersive Media
  • Human-Computer Interaction

Awards and Honors

  • Illinois Distinguished Fellowship

Related Links

Gustavo Nery

Gustavo Nery
Gustavo Nery

Email: gd39@illinois.edu

Research Interests

A storyteller and published author from Fortaleza, Brazil, Gustavo Nery is a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Communications Research. He holds a BA in journalism from the University of Fortaleza and an MA in theatre studies from Illinois State University. Prior to his journey as a graduate student, Gustavo had professional experience as a film critic, reporter, and editor for books, magazines, and newspapers. 

His main area of research is television, film, theatre, and media studies. Interests include: 

  • Coming-of-age and teen cinema
  • Queer cinema
  • Brazilian cinema
  • Film theory and criticism
  • Popular music
  • Theater professional recordings
  • Film Biopics
  • Narrative theory

Recent Publications/Presentations

Musical Theater Pro-Shots: Questioning An Entertainment Industry Trend. Presented at the 2024 University Research Symposium at Illinois State University (Spring 2024). 

The “female biopic” conventions and portrayal of Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s film “Spencer” (2021). Presented at the 14th RAW: Research, Art, & Writing Graduate Student Conference, University of Texas at Dallas (virtual session; Winter 2023). 

Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” as a concept album and the usage of “old Hollywood” to promote its themes. Presented at the 2023 University Research Symposium at Illinois State University (Spring 2023).

Courses Taught

  • MACS 100: Intro to Popular TV & Movies

Awards and Honors

  • Mask & Hammer Award, 2024 – Outstanding Dramaturgy (ISU) 
  • Ada Belle Clark Welsh Scholarship, 2023 
  • Best Book Editing – Expocom Nacional, 2018 (Brazil)

What Most People Don’t Know about Me

I took three years of theater classes just for fun!

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Nansong Zhou

Nansong Zhou
Nansong Zhou

Email: nz20@illinois.edu

Research Interests

My research interests encompass the global media industry, China studies, and game studies. Currently, I am focused on two primary research areas. The first area examines the formation of the global video game industry. For instance, I investigate how video games evolved from being perceived as a “digital drug” to becoming a globally dominant “cultural industry” in China. However, my research is not limited to the Chinese context; I am also deeply interested in the contexts of Asia and the Global South. The second research area explores how video games integrate with AI and VR technologies, along with their impacts and potential. I am deeply interested in the dynamic interactions between games, technology, and society.

Recent Publications/Presentations

Publications: 
Zhou, N. (2024). Digital Labor in Free-to-play Games: Player as Commodity and Interaction as Labor in MMOGs. Critical Studies In Media Communication, 41(2), 137–152. 

Zhou, N. (2024). Spiritual Opium and Spiritual Opium War: A Cultural History of Arcade Games and Console Games in 1990s China. Media International Australia. 

Zhou, N. (2021). Parasocial Relationship in the Social Context: Why do Players View a Game Character as Their Child? Game Studies. Volume 21 Issue 2. 

Conferences: 
Zhou, N. (2024, June). From “Digital Drug” to “Cultural Industry”: The Making of a Global Video Game Industry. Research accepted by ICA Games Studies Division 2024, Gold Coast, Australia. 

Zhou, N. (2023, November). The Digital Drug Discourse in the 1990s China: How the Video Game became “Electronic Heroin” from “Spiritual Opium”. Paper accepted by the 109th National Communication Association (NCA 2023) Convention, National Harbor, MD, the United States. Top Student Paper Award, Chinese Communication Association. 

Zhou, N. (2023, July). Chinese Video Game Industry in Post-Cold War Era: How the Video Game became Digital Drug in the 1990s. Research accepted by the Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC 2023), Washington, DC, the United States. Top Student Papers Award (third place), History Division. 

Zhou, N. (2022, November). Labor and Exploitation in MMOGs:How Players’ Labor is Exploited in League of Legends. Paper presented at the 108th National Communication Association (NCA 2022) Convention, New Orleans, the United States. Top Overall Paper Award, Game Studies Division.

Awards and Honors

2024 
Illinois Distinguished Fellowship 
The Graduate College, University of Illinois 

2023 
Top Student Paper Award 
Chinese Communication Association, NCA 2023 Convention 

2023 
Top Student Papers Award 
History Division, AEJMC 2023 Conference 

2023 
MCC Academic Achievement Award 
Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University 

2022-2023 
Mitchell Leaska Scholarship 
Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University 

2021-2022 
Mitchell Leaska Scholarship 
Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University 

2022 
Top Overall Paper Award of Game Studies Division 
Game Studies Division, NCA 108th Annual Convention

What Most People Don’t Know about Me

My goal is to become the best cook among media scholars and the best media scholar among cooks.

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Gillian Paxton

Gillian Paxton
Gillian Paxton

Email: gpaxton2@illinois.edu

Research Interests

Media Literacy, Scholastic Journalism, Visual Communication, Education

Recent Publications/Presentations

Paxton, G. (2024). The State of Media Literacy Education in Indiana Schools. Common Ground, Bloomington, Indiana. 

Mudavadi, K., Hwang, J., Wang, W., Paxton, G., Ochieng, J., and Grabe, ME. (2024). Third-Person Effects of COVID-19 Social Media Posts. International Communication Association, Health Communication Division, Gold Coast, Australia.

Awards and Honors

Future Journalism Teacher Scholarship – Aug 2021 
Phi Beta Kappa Member 
Ernie Pyle Scholar

What Most People Don’t Know about Me

I have maintained a personal media blog, posting reviews and analysis of music, books, and whatever else strikes my fancy since I was a senior in high school!

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Yujin (Floria) Lee

Yujin (Floria) Lee
Yujin (Floria) Lee

Email: yujinl3@illinois.edu

Research Interests

Yujin’s research interests include virtual reality, artificial intelligence, social media marketing, celebrity endorsement, media usage, and cultural analysis.

She is a doctoral student at the Institute of Communications Research. She completed her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in advertising from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

Recent Publications/Presentations

Lee, Y.*, Fukada, M., Baptiste, P., Du, X., Nelson, M. Hey, You Put Ads in My Netflix: How Audiences Negotiate the Changing Streaming Media Landscape, American Academy of Advertising (AAA), Portland, OR, March 14-17, 2024 

Kim, W. J., Lee, D., Heo, S., Park, S., and Lee, Y. When Lonely Hearts Meet Talkative AI: Exploring AI Interactivity and Social Motivation. American Academy of Advertising (AAA), Portland, OR, March 14-17, 2024 

Ham, C., Ju, I., Heo, S., and Lee, Y. Examining the Change-of-Meaning Effect: Sequential Persuasion Knowledge Structure in Coping Mechanism with Online Behavioral Advertising, Annual conference at AEJMC, Washington D.C., August 7-10,2023

Courses Taught

  • ADV 150: Introduction to Advertising 
  • ADV 281: Advertising Research Method 
  • ADV 360: Innovations in Advertising

Awards and Honors

Earl Cummings Advertising Research Award, 2023 
List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students: FA 2022, SP 2024 
American Academy of Advertising’s Graduate Students Travel Scholarship, 2024

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Rheanna Lewis

Rheanna Lewis

Get to know some of our College of Media students! Rheanna Lewis is a Class of 2026 journalism major. 

Rheanna Lewis

Why did you choose journalism as a major?
As a kid I always loved storytelling. Although I wasn’t thinking about journalism back then, I enjoyed telling stories and being on camera. My mom bought me a camera when I was younger to make video diaries, so I found myself talking to the camera, kind of acting like a vlogger. It wasn’t until high school that I realized that journalism might be the career for me after taking a newspaper class. My teacher for the class inspired me to tell and write stories; it was almost like an art. By senior year it was time to apply to colleges and journalism felt like the right choice. Although I wasn’t sure what kind of journalism I wanted to focus on, I knew the field was right for me.

Have you discovered what kind of journalism you want to focus on?
One of the things I like about journalism is how broad the field is. However, I come from a sports-loving family, and as a result, I am interested in sports journalism. While I don’t know specifically what I would like to do in sports journalism, I do see myself writing game recaps, broadcasting it on television, or taking pictures on the field.

Are you currently involved in any journalism programs or internships?
I am currently taking JOUR 400 for Illini Sports Night. I’m a reporter for the show and I take videos of games, interview players, and get to be a part of production. I think the class will help me narrow down what it is I want to do in sports reporting exactly. I’m also a part of an internship called “The Girls Club,” which is a media company that uplifts women who like to watch, play, and report on sports. From what I’ve seen in the field, it’s very male heavy. I don’t see many women involved in reporting games, especially women of color. So the company helps women break into the industry. Currently, I’m a reporter for their social media so I create content for their platform. It’s great getting to meet women who have the same interests as me, and being able to help other people break into the industry.

As a sophomore transfer student, how has your transition been?
Before coming to Illinois, I attended a university on the west coast for my freshman year. I was intrigued and invested in the west coast, and loved how diverse the community was. But because of a lack of journalism activities outside of school, I decided to transfer to the College of Media at the University of Illinois because of the number of opportunities it has for students. If you like television and broadcast journalism, you have classes at Richmond Studio; if print is more your style you have The Daily Illini (the student-run newspaper); and if you enjoy sports media there’s Fighting Illini Productions! I’ve been here almost a whole school year and I’m truly happy with my choice. I feel like I belong here. The school has a better environment and also more people with so many different backgrounds. You’d think that a school in the middle of a cornfield wouldn’t have as many opportunities for journalism, and such a diverse population, but you’d be wrong.

What are your career goals post-graduation?
I’ve had this goal on my vision board since I was 11, but my dream is to host my own talk show. I don’t know if I want the show to be more sports-focused or something like the late-night TV show. In my mind I picture my own show with me hosting and talking with all these famous guests. I just love conversing and getting to know people, so getting to just talk with these interesting people, it’s just a dream of mine. 

I would also love to work in more digital media spaces focused on sports after graduation! I love sports and I feel comfortable in this field and hope to mix my skills with digital media and sports. I’m not sure what exact job or position I’d want to do, but I’d love for it to have both sports and digital content.

How does your cultural background play into your role as a journalist?
Like I said earlier, you don’t see a lot of people like me in this field. This is why I enjoy getting to talk to people with the same or similar backgrounds. It makes me feel like I can be myself and implement that in the stories I tell and the questions I ask. A big reason why I came here was following [Illinois journalism alumna] Taylor Rooks, who does Thursday Night Football for Prime and she is also a host for Bleacher Report. She’s an alumna from the College of Media and she inspired me to do what it is I want to do. It makes me think that I can rise to a position like hers and be the Taylor Rooks for someone who will be in my position one day.

—Interview by Nathan Gonzalez, New Voices Intern

Alice Ji

Alice Ji
Alice Ji

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 their mitigation, as well as the impact of LLM conversational agents like GPT models on cognitive processing.

Recent Publications/Presentations

Wise, K., Willis, E., Ji, A., Paltaratskaya, V. (2025, November). Reimagining the Presentation of Important Safety Information (ISI) in Social Media Pharmaceutical Advertising. NCA 111th Annual Convention, Colorado, US. 

Liu, A. Y., Ji, A., Taneja, H., & Nelson, M. R. (2025). Stakeholder-desired audiences: Fans’ 
audience data imaginaries and how they shape industry data practices. Convergence, 0(0). 
https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565251366412

Paltaratskaya, V., Ji, A., Mazumdar, P., & Wise, K. (2025). Beyond Buzzwords: The Development of Large Language Models and Their Use in Advertising and Strategic Communication Research. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/10641734.2025.2498996

Wise, K., Paltaratskaya, V., & Ji, A. (2025). Media choice. In De Gruyter Handbook of Media Psychology. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. 

Ji, A., Paltaratskaya, V., & Wise, K. (2025, June). The Effect of Message Fatigue on Visual Attention to, and Elaboration of Mental Health Infographics. Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA 2025), Colorado, US. 

Ji, A., Khowaja, L., Gilloly, K., Luo, H., Oshodi, N., Randolph, Z., Sun, R., Wang, C.-Y., Nelson, M. R. (2025, March). TikTok Made Me Buy It: Breaking Expectations with Shoppable Ads. American Academy of Advertising 2025 Annual Conference, Pennsylvania, US.

Courses Taught

  • ADV 480: Social Media Analytics 
  • ADV 305: Adtech and the Digital World 
  • ADV 150: Introduction to Advertising 
  • MACS 100: Intro to Popular TV & Movies

Awards and Honors

  • 2025 Bart A. Cummings Gift Fund, University of Illinois 
  • 2025 Graduate Student Conference Scholarship, American Academy of Advertising
  • 2024 Fall List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students

Related Links

DEV College of Media
119 Gregory Hall
810 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801
217-333-2350