Research Assistant

Prior to pursuing her MA/PhD in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington, Alycia graduated with a B.A. in both Sociology and Asian American Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Her research lies at the intersection of ethnic and media studies, examining how Asian Americans engage in digital impression management and in/visibility within the … Read more

I am a second year graduate student in the Department of Communication’s MA/PhD Program at the University of Washington. My research explores the intersection of online communities and health communication, with the mission to inform health education policy, assess public information needs, and advocate for accessible and equitable healthcare resources. As a mixed-methods computational social … Read more

Julia is a community-engaged researcher and PhD candidate in the Department of Communication at UW. Her research examines how capacity building around dialogic communication processes can be mobilized to cultivate greater collaborative praxis and civic health across diverse community contexts. Through her work, Julia aims to meaningfully integrate research and practice to advance communication environments … Read more

Tiana is a doctoral candidate in the University of Washington’s Department of Communication. Her research focuses on positive interpersonal communication, with particular attention to kindness and supportive communication as potential pathways to individual and relational well-being. She examines how people experience, interpret, and narrate meaningful communicative interactions, and how revisiting these experiences through savoring may … Read more

Julie Feng is a Ph.D. candidate in communication at the University of Washington. As a community-engaged scholar, she studies cultural resistance with a focus on art, decoloniality, and social movements. She is committed to public scholarship and liberatory changemaking.

Joel D. Allen is an emerging critical cultural scholar, studying Black cultural production at the University of Washington. He earned his M.A. in Communication from the University of Washington in 2025. Joel has held appointments at the University of Washington as a teaching assistant for Intro to Communication, Communication, Power, and Difference, and Public Speaking. … Read more

Helen is a Ph.D. student in the University of Washington Department of Communication and a research assistant with the Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity (CCDE). She earned her B.S. in Communication from Arizona State University and her M.A. in Communication from the University of Washington. Helen’s research focuses on intercultural and relational communication, with … Read more

Grace is a Ph.D. student in the University of Washington Department of Communication. Prior to joining UW, she earned her B.A. at Temple University and her M.A. at the University of Utah, both in Communication. Her research examines the representation of race, gender, and sexuality as it is represented in Asian American popular culture media, … Read more

Mercy Bertero is a PhD candidate studying Health Communication at the University of Washington and a VA health science research specialist. As the lead research associate in the CCDE’s Health Equity Action Lab, she uses community-based qualitative methods to explore culturally responsive healthcare interventions and equitable access to care. Her recent projects examine postpartum depression … Read more