nzhang1

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the University of South Carolina. I have recently defended my dissertation proposal regarding developing pre-bunking strategies to misinformation in the context of mental health. As a dynamic and motivated researcher, I have a research emphasis in the areas of health communication (in particular mental health promotion), social media, and media effects. My research also focuses on examining psychological factors that impact health information processing and engagement among the public, and persuasive impact of messages in public relations contexts as well as various health contexts. I specialize in quantitative research methods including content analysis, survey, and experiment. I am also interested in applying latent variable techniques into my research, such as structural equation modeling. I have been a member of both AEJMC and ICA conferences since 2016 and received top paper awards there. I have served as a teaching assistant for multiple undergraduate courses such as visual communications and Public Relations. I taught mass communication research as an instructor in Spring 2018. I will also teach the theories of mass communication in Fall 2019. In addition to the academic experience, I also have professional experiences in Advertising and PR.

July 2019