Michael Faris
PhD, English with specialization in Rhetoric and Composition, Pennsylvania State University
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Mr. Faris' dissertation investigates privacy in relationship to digital technologies—specifically the social dynamics surrounding the development, use, and adaption of new communication technologies and the affordances and complications of social media technologies.

Anna Levy
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Pennsylvania State University
(Dissertation Committee Member)

This research centers on issues related to development of local eGovernment in small college towns in Pennsylvania. This study explores how the design, online content and functionality of several municipal government websites have been shaped in response to shifts in administrative policies, goals and priorities of local government as well as, possibly, town-gown connections.

Alexandria Lockett
PhD, English with specialization in Rhetoric and Composition, Pennsylvania State University
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Ms. Lockett is developing a pedagogy that teaches an entire framework for engaging with digital multimedia composition.

Navadeep Khanal
PhD, Library and Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaigne
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Mr. Khanal uses discourses found in postcolonial theory to create a conceptual framework to guide research and practice in Community Informatics.

Harold Robinson
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Pennsylvania State University
(Dissertation Committee Member)

This dissertation examines nonprofit participation in a Web 2.0 community portal implementation project.

Kayla Hales (2011)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Chair)

Dr. Hales' dissertation research examines the use and impacts of CMC in pre-established, monogamous, romantic relationships.

Louis-Marie Ngamassi Tchouakeu (2011)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Ngamassi's research examines interorganizational effectivesness in a social network of non-governmental agencies collaborating on projects to provide humanitarian aid.

Mithu Bhattacharya (2010)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Co- Chair)

Dr. Bhattacharya's research examines factors that influence the adoption of RFID, the challenges and benefitsof RFID, business processes that are positively influenced by the use of RFID, and relevant value chain activities that could be improved by RFID usage.

MiMi Zhang (2010)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Zhang's uses both quantitative and qualitative methods (time series analysis, social network analysis, and content analysis) to examine the use of micro-blogging to manage a company's brand and communicate with its customers.

Jing Chong (2010)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Chair)

Dr. Chong's research examines women's information needs and selectivity for HIV/AIDS prevention on the U.S. government health websites.

Joey Lee (2009)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

In this Design-Based Research (DBR) dissertation study, Dr. Lee designs, builds, and tests a Serious Game design that he calls Identity Supportive Games (ISGs).  His ISG allows players to explore Asian-American identities in relation to ethnic stereotypes.

Edgar Maldonado (2009)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Maldonado's research examines open source software and eGovernment initiatives in Venezuela.

C. Frank Igwe (2008)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Chair)

Dr. Igwe's  research examines how African Americans utilize weblogs to create virtual “third places”, as a means to rebuild aspects of community that are lacking in their real-world communities.

Julio Ortiz (2008)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Ortiz research examines municipal wi-fi and its impact on the digital divide.

Allison Morgan (2008)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Morgan's research examines the ways in which individual differences influence health information seeking.

Sungwook Kim (2008)

PhD, Telecommunications, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Kim's research examines the influence of universal service telecommunication policy on internet diffusion in Korea.

Jeria Quesenberry (2007)
PhD, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Quesenberry's research examines individual differences among women, and their impact on IT career anchors.

Young Shin Cho (2007)
PhD, Telecommunications, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr.Cho's research examines factors such as media ownership and competition on the diversity of content on broadcast television.

Andre Brock (2007)
PhD, Library and Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaigne
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Brock's research examines black identity expressed through the linguistic practices of black bloggers reporting on Hurricane Katrina.

Matt Kelley (2007)
Phd, Geography, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Kelley's research employs utopian theory as a basis for developing and assessing IT-enabled action research projects in economically distressed urban communities.

Jennifer Warren (2006)
PhD, Communication Arts and Sciences, Penn State
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Warren's research interests include web-based health communication and prevention, health information seeking and identity, health disparities, African American health, substance use, community based participatory research.

JJ Hsieh (2005)
PhD, Computer Information Systems, Georgia State University
(Dissertation Committee Member)

Dr. Hseih's dissertation research integrates the theory of planned behavior, motivation theory, social learning theory, and diffusion of innovation to examine key factors that lead to inequality in the access and use of broadband internet.

MS, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Thesis Committee Member)

Mr. Bajpai's primary research goal is to delineate a framework informed with a social movements lens and to demonstrate the framework by means of Twitter usage data related to the Thailand protests of 2010.

Michael Colibraro (2008)
MS, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Thesis Committee Member)

Mr. Colibraro's research uses social informatics as a sensitizing framework to examine the production and consumption of fan art in the World of Warcraft.

Leslie Tu (2006)
MS, Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Thesis Adviser)

Ms. Tu's research uses discourse analysis to examine the ways in which the digital divide discourse reproduces many of the themes found in scholarly theories on economic development.

Brenden Jeziorski (2008)
Schreyer Honors College and the College of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Thesis Adviser)

Mr. Jeziorski's thesis examines the impact of digital divide programs in selected high schools.

Jason Scott (2007)
Schreyer Honors College and the College of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Thesis Adviser)

Mr. Scott's thesis examines the Business, Computers and Information Technology (BCIT) graduate programs that prepare and credential high school teachers in the state of Pennsylvania .

Jason Lally (2006)
Schreyer Honors College and the College of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
(Thesis Adviser)

Mr. Lally's thesis examines the use of communication technologies to support community organizing and social network formation in a farm-to-table initiative in State College, Pennsylvania.