Welcome to my homepage! I am a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at University of California, Santa Barbara, advised by Prof. Joe Walther. I am currently on the academic job market and anticipate graduating in June 2027. As a theory-driven scholar, I explore the social influence of communication technologies (e.g., social media, AI) and how mediated communication impacts people’s interactions across contexts.

My research is grounded in computer-mediated communication (CMC), examining how digital and AI-mediated environments shape identity, persuasion, and social influence across interpersonal, intergroup, and organizational contexts. My work falls under three interconnected agendas: (1) the reciprocal effects of self-presentation and self-identification online, including how these processes shape attitudes, behavior, and group dynamics; (2) self-effects of communicating in mediated contexts, exploring how producing messages in digital environments transforms communicators themselves; and (3) the design and evaluation of AI as an intervention agent in online discussions, including the use of generative AI as a persuasive and prosocial tool in digital discourse. My current projects address vicarious interpersonal interactions, the interplay of anonymity and identification online, and scalable strategies (i.e., counterspeech) to combat online hate.

I approach my work primarily from a quantitative social science perspective, leveraging experimental design and computational methods. My methodological expertise also includes advanced statistical modeling, such as structural equation modeling and mixture modeling (e.g., latent class analysis, latent profile analysis).

My work has been published in journals such as Communication Research Reports, New Media & Society, and Media Psychology. I have presented my research at annual conferences of the International Communication Association (ICA) and the National Communication Association (NCA), where my work received a Top Student Paper Award (2026).

Before joining UCSB, I received my M.A. in Communication from Michigan State University in 2023 and my B.A. in Media and Communication from City University of Hong Kong in 2020.