Graduate Student Profiles

Salome Apkhazishvili is a Ph.D. student at Georgia State University, Communication Department. She serves as a secretary at the Communication Graduate Student Association. Salome is driven by the influence of new media technologies, and more specifically, how different generations communicate about it and through it with each other. She is inspired by public speaking, teaching, and supporting the communities on and off campus. As an international student, she supports diverse voices in teaching and research.

Education

Ph.D. student at Georgia State University/ Communication Department| 2026
MA in Communication| University of Southern Indiana| Fulbright Graduate Scholarship| 2020
MA in Nationalism and Ethnicity Studies|Tbilisi State University| 2016
BA in Journalism and Mass Communication| Tbilisi State University| 2013

Specializations: Intergenerational communication, digital literacy, health literacy, computational and quantitative research

Publications & Presentations:

Apkhazishvili S., Arene S., Hobbs, R., The Help Desk as a Community-Building Tool for Online Professional Development, The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, Issue 19, May 11, 2021; https://jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-help-desk-as-a-community-building-tool-for-online-professional-development/

The Challenges of Teaching Critical Thinking and Student Agency, roundtable discussion co-host and presenter, National Association of Media Literacy Conference, July 2021.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salome-apkhazishvili/
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/salomeapkhazishvili/home?authuser=0

I have been a part-time doctoral student since 2017 on the media and society track. I work full time in education and communications. Finally finished coursework and looking forward working on dissertation on identity and social media self-presentation in evangelical emerging adults.

Education

2003 - B.A. Journalism, minor in Political Science
2004 - M.S. Education

Publications and Presentations

"Evangelical identity and QAnon: Why Christians are finding new mission fields in political conspiracy" - Journal of Religion and Violence, July 2022 Online first

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-beauchamp-5287144/

Brittaney J. Bethea has worked in public health for over a decade in chronic and infectious disease education and wellness promotion using health communication strategies. At leading agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Banyan Communications, she’s collaborated with colleagues from various backgrounds— health scientists, policy advocates, technology enthusiasts and visual creatives—to translate complex health information into digestible and action-inspiring content across various mass media channels (magazines, newspapers, PSAs, video games, web and mobile apps). She’s currently the Director of Marketing and Communications for Research and Community Engagement at Morehouse School of Medicine.
Her research interest include evidence-based health communication and entertainment-education, a research-based communication strategy that involves formative research with potential audiences before traditional and mass media products are created and mixed methods summative research to measure the effects of messages on the intended audience’s perceptions and behavioral intent.

Recent publications:

• ‘The lesser devil you don’t know’: a qualitative study of smokers’ responses to messages communicating comparative risk of electronic and combusted cigarettes
• A Description and Evaluation of the Concussion Education Application HEADS UP Rocket Blades

Conference presentations:

Bethea, B.J., Allen, C., McKinney, L., Escoffrey, C., McCray, G., McBride, C., Akintobi, T. (2019, August). Family Health History: CHWs Definitions, Patient Conversations and Potential Role in Digital Documentation. National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media​Allen, C., McKinney, L., Bethea, B.J., Escoffrey, C., McCray, G., McBride, C., Akintobi, T. (2018, November). Exploring the Roles of CHWs in Improving Uptake of Family Health History Assessment among Patients and Providers: Implications for Cancer Risk Reduction and Prevention among Minority Populations. 11th American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved. New Orleans, LA and Atlanta, GA"

Ryan Gautreaux graduated from the University of Louisiana with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and a Master of Science in Communication. Following a brief assignment in Seoul, South Korea, Ryan worked as a law enforcement interviewer and an Advanced Methods Montessori Assistant in the United States. Ryan also served as an editorial writer on various international and political topics for a regional newspaper, The Vermilion. Gautreaux is currently a member of the Board of Directors for The World Complexity Science Academy and focuses on data-driven analyses of terrorist/disruption/political organizations' Computer-Mediated Communications (CMC), as well as misinformation correction.

Publications and Presentations 

https://gsu.academia.edu/RyanGautreaux

Interested in media effects on minors and BIPOC communities

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasminehjackson/

Katherine Kountz is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Communication at Georgia State University and a presidential fellow in the Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative (TCV). She uses semi-automated machine learning methods to analyze how rhetorical environments influence political polarization, radicalization, and how political extremists mobilize media for recruitment.

Education

M.A. Communication, 2007
Georgia State University, USA
B.A. English, minor in film, 1999
University of Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

Publications and Presentations
Publications:
Ayse Deniz Lokmanoglu, Carol K. Winkler, Monerah Al Mahmoud, Kayla McMinimy & Katherine Kountz (2022) Textual Messaging of ISIS’s al-Naba and the Context Drivers That Correspond to Strategic Changes, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2022.2109245
Presentations:
Anthony F. Lemieux (PI), Carol Winkler (Co-PI), Dror Walter (Co-PI). Long and Destabilizing Shadows: The Identity Shaping Power of MediaSystems and their Impact on Global Security. 2022 AFOSR Trust and Influence Program Review.
Anthony F. Lemieux*, Katherine Kountz*, Allison Betus, John Hendry*, Rebecca Wilson*. THE BASE, In-depth analysis of recruiting interviews of potential members, Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative
Katherine Kountz. “Heterotopia in a Global Network of Relations: An Unveiling Through Rhetorical Texture”, Rhetorical Society of America, 2022

Lauren Lane received her BA in English and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and MS from North Carolina State University in Communication. Broadly, she is interested in studying mass media uses and effects and how those aspects vary across identities. Her more focused research interest is the exploration of media portrayals of African Americans across various mediums (music, television, social media) and employing mixed methods to do so.

Davia Rose Lassiter is an award-winning media professional, consultant, and educator. She earned her BA in Journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi, MA in Journalism and Mass Communication at UGA, and professional certificates in business and professional writing,social media marketing, and graphic web design from Kennesaw State University. Her doctoral research interests include leadership and media-based coping mechanisms for Black women in corporate spaces. She teaches for GSU's WomenLead in Business and University of Wes tGeorgia's School of Communication, Film, and Media. Learn more about her iamdrlassiter.com and thelassiterfirm.com.

Education

BA in Journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi
MA in Journalism and Mass Communication at UGA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davia-lassiter

Web: http://iamdrlassiter.com

Yuehan (Jessie) Liu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication, media, and society track. Her research focuses on health communication, social media, media effects, and media psychology. Jessie earned her B.A. and M.A. in Journalism from Michigan State University. In April 2021, she presented a paper exploring the relationship between media exposure, emotions, and people’s intention to wear face masks during the early stage of COVID-19 at D.C. Health Communication Conference.

Pauline is a doctoral student in the Media and Society concentration. She earned her BA (09) and MA (13) in Communication Studies from Eastern Illinois University. Before starting her Ph.D. at Georgia State in 2019, Pauline worked as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communication at Clemson University. While there, building off previous research and prison volunteer work, she developed and implemented educational programs, including a communication curriculum and a theatre group, for incarcerated students. Applied prison work has been at the heart of her research interests throughout her academic career. Specifically, Pauline is interested in issues related to higher education in prison, media narratives of prison, self-disclosure of invisible stigmatized identities by formerly incarcerated individuals, etc. She has published a chapter, “Volunteering behind bars: Negotiating roles, resources, and relationships,” in Demystifying the Big House: Exploring Prison Experiences and Media Representations.

My name is Bobbi K. Otis. I earned a B.A. in Mass Communication with a minor in Political Science from Georgia College & State University in 2013. Following a period of working in both the newspaper industry and in higher education, I completed a Master of Public Administration degree at the University of North Georgia in 2018. My research explores political communication with a particular focus on structural inequality and the diverse communicative environment surrounding state voting rights policies. I presented a paper analyzing the narrative of political advertising in support of expanding voting rights to individuals convicted of felonies in Florida at the 2019 National Communication Association convention. At the Southern States Communication Association convention in 2020, I presented a paper exploring the media coverage of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Vithika (pronouns - she/her) started her doctoral journey at GSU in Fall 2021. She is originally from India, where she completed her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mass Communication and worked as a print media journalist for seven years. She switched to academics as an Assistant Professor of Mass Communication in 2019, tutoring and mentoring undergrad students in India. At GSU, she is also a graduate assistant, teaching Speech Communication to undergraduates. Her research interests include new and social media and their impact on politics and society, and vice versa. She loves to travel, explore, and experience new places and cultures (and food).

Specializations
Print media, social media, journalism, media psychology in relation to politics and society

Publications and Presentations
Salomi, V. (2021). “Revival of Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Role of Media”, in Amrita Chowdhury, Alok John (eds), Covid-19 Pandemic and World Tourism-Hospitality Trends, Challenges and Future Prospects at Patna Women’s College, Rajesh Publications, New Delhi, p 209 – 215
Salomi, V. (2020). “Positive from Covid-19: New Media Aids Learning in India.” Communication Today (ISSN 0975-217X), 24(2-4), p 254 – 263

I am a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication at GSU. My area of research interest is health communication, focusing on health equity, and social and behavioral change. My current research revolves around women's health, specifically sexual violence and bystander behavior. Additionally, I have also been working on projects surrounding health access, and representation of health issues in the entertainment and news media.

Education

Georgia State University
2020-Present (Exp. Aug 2024)
Degree: Ph.D. in Public Communication (Media and Society)

Georgia State University
2018-2020
Degree: M.A. Mass Communication
Thesis: Jammu and Kashmir during the Communication Blackout: A Textual Analysis of
Indian News Coverage

Uttarakhand Technical University
2011-2015
Degree: B.Tech. Computer Science and Engineering

Specializations

- Health Communication
- Health Equity
- Social and Behavioral Change

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akansha-sirohi-858125104/

Mor Yachin is a doctoral student and a TCV fellow, pursuing her Ph.D. in Communication Studies at Georgia State University.
She completed her MA in Communication Studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Her research interests include health communication and media effects, older populations, and their use of innovative technologies. In addition, she focuses on the intersection of social media and music.

Education

M.A. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Communication Studies
B.A. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Communication and Middle Eastern Studies

Specializations  Health Communication, Media Effects

Publications and Presentations

Yachin, M., & Nimrod, G. (2020). Innovation in later life: A study of grandmothers and Facebook. International Journal of Aging and Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091415020940200
Yachin, M., & Tirosh, N. (2021) “A Line from a Song that Punches You in the Stomach” –Music and the Negotiations of Cultural Memory in Facebook. Popular Music and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2021.1958444

Wendy Weile Zhou is a Ph.D. Candidate in Public Communication and was a 2CI Fellow at Georgia State University (GSU). Her research focuses on political discourse, transnational journalism, diaspora media and communication. Zhou identifies herself as a critical-cultural studies researcher interested in the intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, and media. Meanwhile, she is adopting mixed methods, i.e., qualitative discourse/ethnographic and computational content analysis to discern major patterns of digital public sphere. Her dissertation examines the news values and practices of Chinese transnational journalists. Expected to graduate in 2023, she is looking for post-doctoral researcher opportunities at universities, non-profits, and think tanks specialized in the analysis of digital media, journalism, and politics.

Her research has been presented on annual conferences of International Communication Association (ICA), National Communication Association (NCA), and Society for Cinema and Media Studies, will be featured in the Brill book series of Chinese politics and the special issue of Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration. She is also a freelancer for Chinese and English media including the Atlantic and Al Jazeera, covering the nexus of journalism, politics and technology. Before joining GSU, she served as the Chinese editor of Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) and research assistant at the Journalism and Media Studies Center at the University of Hong Kong, where she earned a master’s degree in Journalism.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyzhou502

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TmYbGp0AAAAJ&hl=zh-CN

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9627-2489