Category: Student Profiles

Email: shiyue2@illinois.edu  

Research Interests

Jennifer is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Communications Research. Her research aims to equip communicators with theory-driven and evidence-based strategies to navigate the digital landscape more effectively. From a social scientific perspective, she examines how social media messaging strategies in Public Service Announcements (PSAs)—particularly humor and visuals—shape public opinion, cognitive processing, and behavioral intentions. She also investigates social media environments, particularly what branding content generates social buzz.

Her dissertation explores the persuasive impact of visual formats on shaping public understanding of health. Using a multi-method design combining experiments and eye-tracking, this dissertation examines the cognitive mechanisms underlying visual message processing in health misinformation contexts. This work advances theoretical understanding of how people process visual misinformation and corrections. It offers practical implications for designing effective health promotion campaigns.

Recent Publications/Presentations

McKasy, M., Yeo, S. K., Zhang, J. S.^#, Cacciatore, M. A., Allen, H. W.^#, & Su, L. Y.-F. (2025). Support for regulation of enhanced geothermal systems research: Examining the role of familiarity, credibility, and social endorsement. Geothermal Energy, 13(1), 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40517-025-00346-5

Yeo, S. K., Freiling, I., Yeon, J.^#, Zhang, J. S.^#,McKasy, M., Cacciatore, M. A., Su, L. Y.-F., & Siskind, S. R. (2025). Satire and perceptions of aggressiveness and trustworthiness in communication about renewable energy. Science Communication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10755470251345746

Zhang, J. S.^#, & Su, L. Y.-F. (2025, November). More vivid, more deeply processed: Exploring the roles of message format in misinformation and correction of health misbeliefs. 111st National Communication Association (NCA) Annual Convention, Denver, CO.

McKasy, M., Cacciatore, M. A., Yeo, S. K., Zhang, J. S.^#, Cook, J., Olaleye, R.^#, & Su, L. Y.-F. (2024). Engaging the dismissive: An assessment of strategies to support global warming action. Public Understanding of Science, 33(2), 227-240. http://doi.org/10.1177/09636625231186785

Freiling, I., Cacciatore, M. A., Su, L. Y.-F., Yeon, J.^#, Park, S.^#, Du, W.^#, Zhang, J. S.^#, Yeo, S. K., & Siskind, S. (2024). Communicating about renewable energy with satire: The influence of gentle and harsh humor tones on perceived message credibility and information reliance. Science Communication.https://doi.org/10.1177/10755470241293361

Gupta, M.^#, Kazybayeva, A.^#, Paltaratskaya, V.^#, Zhang, J. S.^#, Wise, K., & Peterson, M. (2024, August). Visual attention, comprehension, and memory for visual metaphors in advertising. Presented at the 107th Annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Philadelphia, PA.

^#Graduate student co-author

Courses Taught

Instructor of Record

• ADV 483 – Audience Analysis, SP26, FA25, FA23

Teaching Assistant

• ADV 283 – Advertising Research Methods, SP24
• ADV 281 – Advertising and Brand Strategy, SP23, FA22
• ADV 150 – Intro to Advertising, SP22

Awards and Honors

• S. Watson and Elizabeth Dunn Fellowship
• James Webb Young (JWY) Fund Graduate Student Research Award
• James Webb Young (JWY) Fund for Summer Research in Advertising
• AEJMC 2023 First Place MCS Faculty Paper Award
• Lynne Blanton Student Travel Award

What Most People Don’t Know about Me

I’m an outdoor sports enthusiast. I enjoy various outdoor activities, including hiking, camping, mountaineering, cycling, climbing, skiing, kayaking, fishing, kite surfing, zip-lining, and more!

Related Links

• https://zhangshiyue.com/
• Google Scholar

Email: yanliu10@illinois.edu

Cohort: 2021

Research Interests

Anna’s research lies at the intersection of strategic communication, data and emerging data-driven technologies (algorithms and AI), consumer behaviors, and media sociology.

She takes a behavioral approach to study data and data-driven technologies (algorithms and AI) in message design and media exposure for consumer empowerment and societal good. Specifically, she studies people’s perceptions and behaviors surrounding data and data-driven technologies, focusing on three key questions: (1) how NGOs and brands ethically and effectively communicate data in message design to persuade consumer pro-social behaviors and promote consumer protection, (2) how people understand and strategically engage with algorithms to influence media exposure and public visibility on digital platforms, and (3) how AI biases, and people’s understanding of these biases, shape the influence of AI-generated content on people’s perceptions and behaviors.

Anna employs a mixed-method approach, using computational methods (e.g., engagement metrics, sentiment analysis, topic modeling, computational visual analysis), traditional quantitative (e.g., experiment, survey, content analysis), and qualitative methods (e.g., interview, netnography) in her research.

Anna’s research interest and teaching philosophy are informed by her 5 years of professional experience in Ipsos, a global marketing and consumer research company. Before joining ICR, Anna was a Senior Research Manager at Ipsos, where she conducted research on brands, advertising, media, products, and consumers using a various methods, including survey, experiment, content analysis, focus group, in-depth interview, observation, home visit, shop-along, consumer diary, eye-tracking, social media analytics, etc.

Anna earned a B.A. in journalism from Renmin University of China and an M.S.S.c. in advertising from Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Recent Publications/Presentations

Liu, A. Y. & Zhang, M. M. (Accepted). Positivity Bias in AI-Generated Summaries of User-Generated Content: Exploring Its Sources and Impact on Public Sentiment. Computational Communication Research. 

Liu, A. Y. (2025). Ephemeral Visibility and Externally Visible Production: How Algorithmic Automation Accelerates Fans’ Data Work. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251393480

Liu, A. Y., Ji, A. R., Taneja, H. & Nelson, M. R. (2025). Stakeholder-Desired Audiences: Fans’ Audience Data Imaginaries and How They Shape Industry Data Practices. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565251366412

Liu, A. Y., & Taneja, H. (2025). Visibility of K-pop in the US: Global Rankings, ‘Audience Mis-aggregation’, and Mainstream Attention to Niche Genre. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565251320755

Liu, A. Y. (2025, Jun 12-16). Context Matters: Exploring Consumers’ Sense-Making of Online Ratings in the Social Context. International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference, Denver, United States. 

Gong, Z., Chen, T., Liu, A. Y., Xuan, J., & Su, L. Y. F. (2025, March 6-9). Navigating Consumer Acceptance of Cultured Meat: An Exploratory Narrative Review of Communication Strategies. American Academy of Advertising (AAA) Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, United States.

Courses Taught

• ADV 284: Consumer Insight (Teaching Assistant) 
• ADV 281: Advertising Research Method (Instructor of Record) 
• ADV 250: Advertising and Brand Strategy (Teaching Assistant) 
• ADV 150: Introduction to Advertising (Teaching Assistant) 
• MACS 100: Introduction to Popular TV & Movies (Teaching Assistant)

Awards and Honors

• James Webb Young Grad Research Award, Department of Advertising, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
• Bart A. Cummings Advertising Gift Fund (Research fund for dissertation), Department of Advertising, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign  
• Petullo Fellowship, Department of Advertising, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign  
• James Webb Young Travel Fund, Department of Advertising, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• MusicID 2024 Digital Research Fellowship

Email address: mz44@illinois.edu

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Maggie’s research is at the intersection of computational social science, HCI and social media, combining natural language processing and computer vision methods as well as experiments to look into the media effect on people’s opinions and behavior.

Recent Publications/Presentations

Zhang, M. and Ng, Y.M.M. (2023) #TrendingNow: How Twitter trending topics impact public and individual agenda? International Journal of Communication. 

Wang, X., and Zhang, M. (2022). Sharing the same bed with different dreams: Topic modeling the research-practice gap in public relations 2011-2020. Journal of Marketing Communications, 1-25. 

Zhang, M. M., Wang, X., & Hu, Y. (2021). Strategic framing matters but varies: A structural topic modeling approach to analyzing china’s foreign propaganda about the 2019 hong kong protests on Twitter. Social Science Computer Review, 41(1), 265-285.

Courses Taught

• Social Media Analytics (ADV 480): Instructor at UIUC, Spring 2023 
• Multimedia Editing and Design (JOUR 425): Teaching Assistant at UIUC, Fall 2021–Dec 2021 
• Data Storytelling (JOUR 460): Teaching Assistant at UIUC, Spring 2021

Academic Roles

ICR representative for the College of Media Academic Misconduct and Capricious Grading Committee at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the 2022-2023 academic year

Awards and Honors

• Top Paper Award, AEJMC, Communication Technology Division, 2024 
• Top 2 Student Paper Award, ICA the Mass Communication Division, 2019

Related Links

https://mz44zhang.github.io/

Email: smg8@illinois.edu

Research Interests

Stephanie is a PhD Candidate in Communications & Media at the Institute of Communications Research, where her work broadly encompasses mediated Latine/x teen girlhoods, quinceañera ontologies, and streaming media and platform consolidation. Her current projects merge media studies, girlhood studies, Latine/x studies, and cultural studies with reconceptualizations of visibility, presence, resonance, nationhood, and belonging. She holds a B.A. in English & American Literature and Latin American Studies from New York University, and earned an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from California State University, Los Angeles, where she wrote a master’s thesis titled “‘I Got You’: The Modern American Family and Latinx Reconfigurations in Netflix’s One Day at a Time.”

Recent Publications/Presentations

• Pérez, S.M. (Forthcoming, 2026). Dazzling intimacies and the mirage of inclusion in And Just Like That…. In I. Molina-Guzmán & A.N. Valdivia (Eds.), (Re)booting Inequality: Critical Takes on Film and Television Remakes. New York University Press. ISBN: 9781479821914. 
• Pérez, S.M. (Forthcoming). Quinceañera ontologies: (Mediated) Latine/x girlhood and other stories. In J.M. Báez & D. León-Boys (Eds.), Quinceañeras: Mediated Approaches to a Cultural Celebration. University of Illinois Press. 
• Pérez, S.M. & Valdivia, A.N. (2023). Latina Teenhood: Intersectionalizing subjectivities in the post-network era. In B. Calafell & S. Eguchi (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Ethnicity and Race in Communication. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367748586-3. 
• Valdivia, A.N., Pérez, S.M., & Herrera, Z. (2023). A Dream Quinceañera? Latina Girlhood in Mainstream Media. Smithsonian Voices. National Museum of the American Latino. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-latino-center/2022/03/23/latina-girlhood-in-mainstream-media/. 
• Valdivia, A.N., Cano, A.A., Pérez, S.M., Valkanova, D. (2022). Quinceañeras: Celebration, Joy, and Ethnic Pride [Exhibit]. Spurlock Museum, Urbana, IL, USA. https://www.spurlock.illinois.edu/exhibits/profiles/quince.html. 
• Pérez, S.M. (2021). Queen of the Neighborhood: Monse Finnie mobilizes and defies the ingenue trope in Netflix’s On My Block. FLOW Journal: OVER*FLOW. 8 October 2021. https://www.flowjournal.org/2021/10/queen-of-the-neighborhood/.

Courses Taught

• GWS 100: Introduction to Gender & Women’s Studies, Fall 2025 (TA). 
• MACS 101: Introduction to the Media, Spring 2025 (TA). 
• LLS/MACS 250: Latines/xs on the Bronze Screen, Fall 2024 (Instructor of Record). 
• LAS 399: Leadership & Professional Development, AY 2023-2024 (TA).

Awards and Honors

• AY 2023-2025: Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Students 
• Spring 2024: Legacía Award, La Casa Cultural Latina 
• Summer 2023: Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies grant, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ($1,000). 
• Summer 2023: Tinker Foundation Field Research Grant, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ($2,500). 
• Summer 2023: Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship, Italian Language & Area Studies, US Department of Education / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ($7,500, with supplementary funding provided by Middlebury College, VT). 
• AY 2022-2023: Office of Vice Chancellor for Diversity Equity and Inclusion, “Broadening Inclusion Grant”, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ($5,000). 
• Fall 2022: Lynne Blanton Student Travel Award, College of Media, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ($850). 
• Spring 2022 Michael Haley Travel Grant, $1,000. International Communications Association, 72nd Annual Conference, Paris, France. 
• AY 2020-2023: Graduate College Fellowship, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ($75,000/3 years). 
• Summer 2020: Summer Predoctoral Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ($2500).

What Most People Don’t Know about Me

I was born and raised in Los Angeles and am interested in keeping up with issues and histories of gentrification, restrictive covenants, race, ethnicity, culture, food, public policy, and social justice in my hometown.

Related Links

thestephanieperez.com

Email: rikray2@illinois.edu

RESEARCH INTERESTS   

I primarily study how audiences take shape on digital platforms and the ways in which platform logics influence audience behavior. My interest in research design and methodology has also led to collaborations across topical domains such as political communication, public opinion, journalism studies, etc.

Recent Publications/ Presentations

Ray, R., Bhalla, S., & Taneja, H. (2025) Partisan news users in the United States and India on either side seldom use fact checkers. Journal of Communication. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaf018

Ng, Y. M. M., & Ray, R. (2025). The journalists’ exodus: Navigating the transition from Twitter to Mastodon and other alternative platforms. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251321165

Bhalla, S., Ray, R., & Taneja, H. (2024). When news is entertainment: explaining the persistence of misinformation through the information environment. Information, Communication & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2024.2406819

Ray, R. (2023). Online news platforms still matter: Generational news consumption patterns during the 2020 presidential election. Online Media and Global Communication, 2(3), 329-350. https://doi.org/10.1515/omgc-2023-0012

Courses Taught

• ADV 483: Audience Analysis 
• JOUR 451: Research Methods in Journalism

Related Links

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uGLnpQEAAAAJ
• https://rikr.net/
• https://github.com/rik-r