Annenberg Welcomes New Research Staff, Visiting Scholars, and Postdoctoral Fellows
A new academic year brings new faces to Annenberg and many of its centers.
As the 2022-23 academic year begins, the Annenberg community has begun to return to campus. While we have been thrilled to see familiar faces in person, we’re also pleased to welcome new research staff, visiting scholars, and postdoctoral fellows to Annenberg.
Visiting Scholars
Media, Inequality & Change Center (MIC)
Hendrik Theine is a postdoctoral researcher at the Vienna University of Economics and Business in Austria and a visiting scholar at MIC. He is a broadly trained critical social scientist researching at the intersection of media discourses, economic inequality, and the climate crisis.
The Annenberg Center for Collaborative Communication (C3)
Visiting scholar Sophie Whitehead is currently in her third year of Ph.D. research at King’s College London and is visiting Annenberg to work with Professor Sarah Banet-Weiser at C3. She researches the way internet platforms contribute to and trouble the contested feminist tradition of “speaking out” against sexual violence and sexual harassment.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow
A scholar of contemporary fiction, media, and feminist science and technology studies, Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow Arthur Wang studies how scientific concepts travel across contexts and assert universal applicability.
Office of the Vice Provost for Research Postdoctoral Fellow
Office of the Vice Provost for Research Postdoctoral Fellow Michelle Thompson explores social determinants of health and health disparities at the intersections of race, ethnicity, and sexuality to advance health equity for marginalized groups.
George Gerbner Postdoctoral Fellow
A recent Ph.D. graduate of the USC Annenberg School, Olivia González is the 2022-24 Gerbner Fellow. She studies the politics of race, class, and gender within contemporary structures of media education and production.
Annenberg Center for Collaborative Communication (C3) & Media, Inequality and Change Center (MIC)
C3 and MIC postdoc Kathryn Claire Higgins studies how the meaning-making work of communication negotiates justification for different practices of violence, exclusion and domination.
Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC)
William J. Henrich Postdoctoral Fellow
William J. Henrich Postdoctoral Fellow Elizabeth Harris studies how people's political identities can bias how much they believe and how willing they are to share fake news that they find on social media.
Arlin M. and Neysa Adams Postdoctoral Fellow
Stephanie L. DeMora will be a postdoc in the Annenberg Center for Advanced Study in Communication (ACASC) at the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC). She studies mass political behavior and identities such as gender, race, and ethnicity.
Vartan Gregorian Postdoctoral Fellow
Javier Granados Samayoa is the Vartan Gregorian Postdoctoral Fellow with appointments at both the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) and the Social Action Lab. His research focuses on how people’s attitudes and beliefs form, how they generalize, and how they ultimately influence behavior.
Gloria T. and Melvin J. (“Jack”) Chisum Postdoctoral Fellow
Timothy Hyde, is the Gloria T. and Melvin J. (“Jack”) Chisum Postdoctoral Fellow, affiliated with APPC and the Social Action Lab. He studies the behavioral economics of housing and insurance markets, specifically the effect of mistaken beliefs.
Social Action Lab
Wenhao Dai is a Social Action Lab postdoc who examines the formation, shifting, and social and health consequences of action and inaction goals.
Social Action Lab postdoc Xi Shen studies the social learning processes involved in forming and changing impressions, evaluations, and moral judgments, with an emphasis on the role of implicit cognition.
Center on Digital Culture and Society (CDCS)
CDCS postdoc Frances Corry examines the prehistories and afterlives of data-intensive systems through topics like social media data deletion and the politics of digital memory.
Chelsea Butkowski, a CDCS postdoc, studies how people use everyday media technologies and practices to make sense of their own identities, especially during periods of extraordinary political and social change.
Center on Digital Culture and Society (CDCS) & Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC)
Yuval Katz is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center on Digital Culture and Society (CDCS) as well as the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC). His work focuses on mediatized everyday peace in Israel/Palestine, forged through and by media.
Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC)
CARGC postdoc Ignatius Suglo’s research engages with visual, aural, and textual knowledge production and circulation about Africa in Modern China, Africa–China media, and Cold War relations.
CARGC postdoc Eszter Zimanyi studies the intersections of migration and media studies, with a specific focus on nonfiction media as technological, aesthetic, and political objects that (re)shape global processes of migration and bordering as they circulate.
Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) & Communication Neuroscience Lab
Prateekshit "Kanu" Pandey, 2022 Annenberg Ph.D. graduate, will be a postdoctoral fellow at CARGC and the Communication Neuroscience Lab. He studies the relationship between engagement with political humor and individual political traits.
Communication Neuroscience Lab
Communication Neuroscience Lab postdoc Laetitia Mwilambwe-Tshilobo studies social neuroscience, the aging brain, loneliness, and social isolation.
Research Staff
Virtual Reality ColLABorative
Previously a postdoctoral fellow with the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication and Center on Digital Culture and Society, Katerina Girginova is now a research associate with the new Annenberg Virtual Reality ColLABorative, which she co-founded with Kyle Cassidy. She researches global virtual events, audiences, and creativity.
