Welcome to my homepage! I am a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at University of California, Santa Barbara, where I am fortunate to be advised by Prof. Joe Walther. As a theory-driven scholar, I explore the social influence of communication technologies and how mediated communication changes people’s interpersonal and group interactions.

My research is grounded in computer-mediated communication, especially at the intersection of interpersonal and intergroup approaches. My work falls under three related agendas: 1) the reciprocal effects of self-presentation and self-identification online; 2) self-effects of communicating in mediated contexts; 3) the utility of AI as an intervention agent in online discussions. Currently, I focus on topics including vicarious interpersonal interactions, online identification and anonymity, and online hate and strategies to deter hate speech, such as counterspeech.

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).

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.