Faculty, doctoral students awarded internal funding for research projects

Two faculty members and two doctoral candidates are the recipients of funding through the Newhouse School’s inaugural internal grants program. The program is administered by the Office of Research and Creative Activity under the leadership of associate dean Regina Luttrell.

Recipients and their projects are:

• Kelly Leahy, assistant professor in television, radio and film: “Media Industry and Media Literacy: Seeding Innovation for an Informed Public”
• Greg Munno, assistant professor in magazine, news and digital journalism: “Public Values and Trust in News”
• Jeongwon Yang (principal investigator [PI] with co-PIs Ploypin Chuenterawong, Heejae Lee and Yu Tian): “Virtual vs. Real? An Exploration of Virtual Influencers as a CSR Communicator”
• Shengjie “Tony” Yao: “Understanding Causes for Zoom Fatigue Using Uncanny Valley Theory”

The purpose of the new initiative is to grow the research enterprise and enhance scholarship at the Newhouse School in order to increase external funding and high-quality scholarly or creative output, according to Luttrell.