Faculty Leaders
Media Innovation + Public Policy
Wihbey’s research and teaching interests focus on the intersection of news and social media; emerging media technologies; public knowledge levels and media consumption; computational journalism and visualization; misinformation and media literacy; and policy issues relating to social media platforms. His research has received awards from the International Communication Association (ICA), National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), and Kantar Information Is Beautiful.
Dr. John P. Wihbey
Associate Professor, Journalism + Public Policy and Urban Affairs
Science + Health Communication
Villar’s research is situated at the intersection of strategic communication and health/science communication, focusing on community engagement with under-represented and hyper-vulnerable populations. She has published over forty peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and articles in conference proceedings, and has been the PI or Co-PI on several multidisciplinary sponsored research projects.
Dr. Maria Elena Villar
Professor + Department Chair, Communication Studies
Climate Data Visualization
Cruz explores new metaphoric and figurative ways to visualize information. His work was featured in several exhibitions around the world such as London Design Biennale, Ibero-American Biennale of Design, CES, MoMA’s Talk to Me, and SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival as well as in magazines such as Fast Company (Co.Design & Co.Create) and Wired (US & UK), and in specialized books.
Dr. Pedro Cruz
Assistant Professor, Art + Design
Public Art + Environmental Education
Starr’s work focuses on visual communication that engages civic, social and political discourse, challenging the public perception of issues such as gun violence, domestic violence and reproductive rights. He strives to expose this aspect of design—occurring at the intersection of graphic design and freedom of speech—to students, designers, academics and to a broad public.
Thomas Starr
Professor, Art + Design
Climate + Energy Communication
Nisbet studies the process by which the public and decision-makers come to understand complex scientific and technological issues, analyzing the influence of ideas, culture, expertise, and journalism. He is the author or co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed studies, scholarly book chapters, and reports, including the 2019 American Academy of Arts and Sciences report “The Public Face of Science Across the World,” the 2018 American Association for Advancement of Science report on Scientists in Civic Life: Facilitating Dialogue-Based Communication and the 2017 US National Academies consensus study on Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda.
Dr. Matthew C. Nisbet
Professor, Communication Studies + Public Policy and Urban Affairs