People
Current Members
Director:
Sojung Claire Kim is an Associate Professor and a Founding Director of the Communication, Health, and Relational Media (CHARM) Lab in the Department of Communication at George Mason University. Her research interests broadly lie at the intersections of emerging technologies, health and risk communication, and strategic messaging. Kim received her doctorate in Mass Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed her post-doctoral fellowship in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
Student Researchers (Meet the CHARMpions!💚):
(From left to right, Debby, Juli, Aaron, Dr. Kim, Katie, and Sogol)
Wanlun (Debby) Chung (Ph.D. Student): Her research interests lie in strategic communication and communication technologies. She joined the lab in Fall 2024 and is leading the parasocial relationship project.
Aaron Trujillo (Ph.D. Student): His research interests lie in health communication, including patient-provider communication and public health campaign messaging. This semester, he is leading a project that examines a potential impact of the AI-based communication when promoting skin cancer prevention messages.
Kaitlin Cashin (MA Student): She is interested in studying strategic communication theories and practices. In the future, she wants to apply what she learns from her research to the Air Force public affairs practices.
Juliana Marcello (Undergraduate Student): She is interested in studying strategic communication practices. She is currently working on the parasocial relationship project with other lab members.
Sogol Khermandar (Undergraduate Student): She is interested in examining health communication messaging strategies in the context of mental health issues. She is currently working on the parasocial relationship research project with other lab members.
How to Join the CHARM Lab:
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Join the lab research group at the beginning of each academic year.
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Join as a graduate or an undergraduate research assistant.
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Register for an undergraduate or a graduate research course: Consult with your academic advisor and the lab director if you are interested in pursuing this option.
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Join as a visiting scholar or a post-doctoral fellow if you secured your own funding (At the moment, the lab does not offer financial sponsorship to interested scholars).
(From left to right, Eryn, Nate, Christian, Adebanke, and Katherine)
Eryn Campbell (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Climate Science, University of Pennsylvania
Research Area: Her research centers around topics regarding climate change and health communication.
Nate S. Brophy (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Social Scientist, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Research Area: His research interests include health communication, end-of-life communication, persuasive messaging, and instructional communication.
Christian Seiter (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Human Communication Studies, California State University-Fullerton
Research Area: His research focuses on motivating families to find positive and meaningful ways to engage in advance care planning.
Adebanke L. Adebayo (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Washburn University
Research Area: Her research interests include intercultural health communication, maternal and neonatal health, death and dying, health equity, and global health.
Katherine Hyatt Hawkins (Ph.D. George Mason University)
Current Position: Social Scientist, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Research Area: As the first lab RA, she played a vital role in multiple research projects, including developing questionnaire instruments; creating moderator training material; recruiting and moderating participants; and analyzing data for scholarly publications. Being part of the CHARM Lab allowed her to further hone her comfortability with biometrics and to apply it to her eye tracking work as an intern at the National Cancer Institute.