Graduate Student Experiences
 

Hear from and connect with current graduate students!

The following graduate students have volunteered to connect with you.

Hi! My name is America Edwards and I am a third-year graduate student (finishing up my coursework!) My main areas of interest are interpersonal communication and computer-mediated communication, especially when it comes to impression development online. My advisor is Dr. Joe Walther. I'm Southern born, Midwest raised, and loving the West Coast. I completed my B.A. from Western Michigan University and M.A. at the University of Central Florida. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the department or living in Santa Barbara. americaedwards@ucsb.edu

Hi! My name is Jesse King, and I'm a third-year doctoral student. My background is in journalism and mass communications, but now my interests lie in mental health communication and media technology. My goal is to figure out how to combine the two to help improve immigrant well-being. My background is mostly in qualitative research, but I also love stats, and I'll be completing the quantitative methods in social science (QMSS) emphasis here at UCSB. Feel free to reach out to me at jesseking@ucsb.edu. 

Hello hello! My name is Cynthia McLeod, and I’m a third-year PhD student who enjoys thinking at intersections (of disciplines, experiences, and ideologies) while reading about all things digital culture. During my MSc in Digital Anthropology at University College London, I centered the online community Black Twitter, and its production of space, place, and time. At UCSB, I continue to study online communities with a keen interest in what makes them “tick”--especially communities that form without intention (organic gatherings of people online). At UCSB, I am advised by Dr. Amy Gonzales who I was drawn to because of her expertise in studying digital communication and minority populations, and I also work with Dr. Dan Lane in the Digital Political Inequality Lab. Feel free to reach me at cynthiamcleod@ucsb.edu with any questions.

Hello! My name is Laurent Wang, and I am a second-year MA/Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication, where I received my Bachelor degree. I am generally interested in the social and cognitive uses of digital technology and their implications for larger societal issues, such as digital inequality. My most recent research investigated credibility perceptions of different fact-checking sources (working with Dr. Miriam Metzger), and effects of human-AI synergy on users' algorithmic bias detection (working with Dr. Kristy Hamilton). Please feel free to email me with questions at hwang02@ucsb.edu.