June 30, 2025
Faculty, graduate students, and recent alumni from the College of Media co-presented various topics of research at the 75th annual International Communication Association Conference—the largest academic conference for communication scholars—on June 12-16, 2025, in Denver, Colorado. The ICA aims to advance the scholarly study of human communication by encouraging and facilitating excellence in academic research worldwide.
This year’s conference theme addressed “Disrupting and Consolidating Communication Research.” College of Media presenters included faculty in the Institute of Communications Research and the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising; graduate students in the MS advertising program; and doctoral students in the Institute of Communications Research PhD program.
College of Media research presenters and presentations are listed below in bold. (Please see the ICA conference program for complete listings.)
Intersectional Experiences of Oppression and Resistance
- Chair: Angharad Valdivia, Professor Emerita, Institute of Communications Research
Making Sense of AI Across the Media Industries: Disrupting Communication Research by Bridging Divides
“Enterprise AI: Hidden Ironies for Creators, Marketers, and Media Scholars”
- Mike Yao, Professor of Digital Media, Advertising; Director of the Institute of Communications Research
Playing for a Better Life: Serious Games and Gamification
“The Power of Play: The Effectiveness of Serious Game on Depression Stigma”
- Nansong Zhou, ICR student
- Donghan Fu, Wuhan U, China
- Zikun Liu, Wuhan U, China
Feminist Disruptions: Institutionalizing Gender in Communication Studies
“Intersectional FSD, a Utopia Yet to Be Achieved”
- Angharad Valdivia, Professor Emerita, Institute of Communications Research
Media Literacy and Information Environments
“The Effect of Message Fatigue on Visual Attention to, and Elaboration of Mental Health Infographics”
- Alice Ji, ICR student
- Veranika Paltaratskaya, ICR student
- Kevin Wise, Professor of Advertising
Conversations With the Machine (Priming, Tensions, Failure, Impact)
“Competitors or Complements? Examining the Effect of Human-AI Interaction on Human-Human Interaction”
- Maggie Zhang, ICR student
- Sakshi Bhalla, ICR student
Algorithmic Bias and Transparency
- Chair: Yanbo Li, ICR student
“Recommendation Transitions on YouTube”
- Yanbo Li, ICR student
- Sakshi Bhalla, ICR student
- Harsh Taneja, Associate Professor of New and Emerging Media, Advertising
Organizers
Consolidating Communication Research Through Causal Inference
- Shuning Lu, U of Maryland
- Ewa Maslowska, Associate Professor of Advertising
- Harsh Taneja, Associate Professor of New and Emerging Media, Advertising
- Nathan Walter, Northwestern U
Information Processing and Health Outcomes
“Debunking COVID-19 Falsehoods: A Test of Three Cognitive Predispositions as Buffers for Partisan Influences”
- Wei Wang, U of Wisconsin–Madison
- Yihan Danny Jia, Boston U
- Maria Grabe, Boston U
- Kevin Mudavadi, Indiana U Bloomington
- Gillian Paxton, ICR student
- Jennifer Hwang, U of California, Los Angeles
- Jimmy Ochieng, Indiana U Bloomington
MIAO-nipulating Trust: AI Dialogue, Verification, and Cross-Platform Misinformation
“Comparing Conversational Agents’ and Social Media Posts’ Roles in Correcting Health Misinformation”
- Ziyang Gong, iSchool
- Junqi Shao, iSchool
- Nisa Rahman, ICR student
- Leona Yi-Fan Su, Associate Professor of Advertising
Personalization and Privacy
“Shh… Is Algorithm Listening?” How Folk Beliefs and Knowledge Shape Our Coping Mechanisms Against Targeted Ads”
- Jiyeon Chang, ICR student
- Se Il Park, ICR student
- Yujin Lee, ICR student
Language and Social Interaction Research Escalator Session
“The Market of Marriage: Matchmaking and the Reinforcement of Gender and Class Boundaries in China”
- Anqi Peng, ICR student
Making Sense of the Machine and the Communication with it
“The Minds Behind the Prompts: How Mental Models Shape User Interaction with Generative AI”
- Weizi Liu (MS ’19, advertising; PhD ’24, iSchool)
- Mike Yao, Professor of Digital Media, Advertising; Director of the Institute of Communications Research
“From ‘Ghostly Companions’ to ‘Invisible Mechanisms’: Exploring Lay Representations and Performance Expectations of AI Across Task Contexts”
- Jiyeon Chang, ICR student
- Mike Yao, Professor of Digital Media, Advertising; Director of the Institute of Communications Research
- Weizi Liu (MS ’19, advertising; PhD ’24, iSchool)
Popular Media and Culture Research Escalator Session
“Reclaiming Dignity or Reinforcing Misogyny? A Study of Sigma Male Meme Localization in China”
- Weiting Du, ICR student
Promising Student Papers
“Online Ratings in the Social Context: Exploring Consumers’ Critical Data Literacy and Sense-Making of Numeric Information”
- Anna Liu, ICR student
Communicating with the Machine: Dynamics and Sophistication
“Testing the Machine-Likeness Hypothesis: How Humans Communicate Like Intelligent Agents”
- Hai Liang, Chinese U of Hong Kong, HONG KONG
- Longhan Wei, Chinese U of Hong Kong, HONG KONG
- Maggie Zhang, ICR student
- Jiyuan Qi, Chinese U of Hong Kong, HONG KONG
- Anfan Chen, Hong Kong Baptist U, HONG KONG
GATO-lyzing Minds: Digital Advocacy, Social Cues, and Online Persuasion Tactics
“When Humans Anthropomorphize Non-Humans: The Influence of Language Cues and Human Motivation on Anthropomorphism and Persuasion”
- WooJin Kim, U of Colorado Boulder
- Chang-Dae Ham, Professor of Advertising and Associate Head of Graduate Studies
Advertising and Consumer Behavior
“Does the Phrase ‘Limited Edition’ Embedded in Ad Matter? The Influence of an Advertising Attribute on Consumer’s Choices and Variety-Seeking Behavior”
- Supathida Kulpavaropas (PhD ’17, ICR)
- Sela Sar, Professor of Advertising
- Xiaowei Zhang (MS ’23, advertising)
- Qing Ang (MS ’24, advertising)
Virtual Social Processes
- Chair: Sela Sar, Professor of Advertising
“What Makes Fake News More Viral? Emotions as Catalyst for Fake News Virality”
- Sela Sar, Professor of Advertising
- George Anghelcev, Northwestern U
- Qing Ang (MS ’24, advertising)
- Xiaowei Zhang (MS ’23, advertising)
Critical (Race) Disruptions and Transformations in Dominant Communication Paradigms
“The Tensions Between Internationalizing and Intersectionalities in the ICA”
- Angharad Valdivia, Professor Emerita, Institute of Communications Research
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