Dr. Porismita Borah
Porismita Borah (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is the co-director of the Murrow Virtual Reality Lab. Borah is a Professor at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, a graduate faculty in the Prevention Science program, and the Director of the Digital Media & Society Lab at Washington State University. Borah primarily studies discourse on digital platforms as well as message effects in the context of both politics and health. Her work has been published in top journals such as Journal of Communication, Political Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, and New Media and Society. Borah has received funding from multiple sources including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the Poynter Institute for her research. Learn more about Borah’s research at http://porismitaborah.com/. Borah is currently the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Public Opinion Research.
Dr. Yoon-Joo Lee
Yoon-Joo Lee, Ph.D., is the co-director of the Murrow Virtual Reality Lab. Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Strategic Communication at Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. Her research focuses on international and cross-cultural advertising, social media advertising, virtual reality, and AI & communication. As a faculty member at the Murrow College, Dr. Lee’s work has consistently explored human information processing, media effects, and message processing in emerging media environments. She brings a strong foundation in understanding how individuals cognitively and emotionally engage with persuasive media messages, particularly through evolving digital and immersive technologies. She has published over 45 articles in leading peer-reviewed journals, including the International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, and the Journal of Business Research, among others. Dr. Lee also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, and Journal of Interactive Advertising. She is also an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Advertising. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication and Information from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Dr. Bimbisar Irom
Bimbisar Irom (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is a member of the Murrow Virtual Reality Lab. Irom is an Assistant Professor in the Journalism and Media Production department at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University. He researches humanitarian communication, which is located at the intersection of practice, moral philosophy, emerging technologies, strategies, representations, and media institutions. Irom’s work examines how communication systems operate in human crises situations, such as forced migration, to craft relationships of proximity or distance between media consumers and ‘distant sufferers’ through narrative and visual strategies. His work is primarily invested in examining how media across multiple platforms can represent vulnerable populations more accurately and how information systems can function efficiently to address inequities that exist in varied forms. Irom has published widely in top-tier journals such as Communication Theory, Journalism, New Media & Society, and Journal of Refugee Studies.
Fahima Khanam
Fahima Khanam (M.A., Washington State University) is a member of the Murrow Virtual Lab. Khanam is a Ph.D. student at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University. Before joining Murrow College, Fahima was a faculty member at various private and public universities in Bangladesh. Her research focuses on emerging communication technologies and the role of these technologies in shaping human-machine interaction, particularly in health communication. With a particular interest in Artificial Intelligence and social media, she envisions exploring the importance of changing people’s behavior and aligning technologies with health concerns. Her work has been published in the International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management, the International Journal of Big Data and Analytics in Healthcare, and the Encyclopedia of Data Science and Machine Learning.
Joseph Franklin
Joseph Franklin (B.A., Washington State University) is a member of the Murrow Virtual Lab. Franklin is an M.A. student at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University. Franklin’s research interests focus on political communication, science communication, and the representation of politics and science in entertainment media. He studies how politics and science are characterized across the news, movies, and TV shows, and their impact on audiences. He is also interested in political incivility and polarization.
AndrewSutherland
Andrew D. Sutherland is a member of the Murrow Virtual Lab. Sutherland is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Edward R. Murrow’s College of Communication at Washington State University. His research aims to support critical thinking and public engagement in health, science, and civics, while also exploring how media literacy can help individuals become more aware of their cognitive biases and reduce the effects of misinformation. He focuses on the cognitive and emotional factors that shape skepticism and information processing, and on how media literacy, as a process, influences how people evaluate health and science information. Specifically, within the health and science communication context, he seeks pragmatic implications of his research. Regarding virtual reality, Andrew is interested in how people think about, use, and engage with media literacy in science and health communication contexts.
Sultana Jahan
Sultana Jahan (M.S. Kansas State University) is a member of the Murrow Virtual Lab. Jahan is a Ph.D. student at Murrow College of Communication. After finishing her bachelor’s degree, Sultana briefly worked as a newsroom editor at a private TV channel in Bangladesh before moving to the United States. She then completed her master’s in Mass Communications from Kansas State University, where she also served as an Instructor of Record. Her research interest lies primarily in health communication, particularly in how health information and misinformation on social media affect people’s health beliefs and care-seeking behaviors across different sociocultural contexts. She is also interested in exploring how AI-generated content on social media shapes and reshapes people’s perceptions of AI affordances and their understanding and acceptance of these technologies. Jahan has presented her work at several national and regional conferences, including NCA and AEJMC.
Priscilla Nyarko
Priscilla Nyarko (M.A. Saint Louis University) is a member of the Murrow Virtual Lab. Nyarko is a Ph.D. student at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. Her research interests are in health communication, digital media, and emerging technologies. She is particularly interested in how people living with chronic health conditions use emerging technologies for health information. Before joining WSU, Nyarko earned her M.A. in Communication from Saint Louis University and her B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. Her previous research has explored online chronic illness communities, self-advocacy, resilience, and patient experiences in digital spaces. As a member of the Virtual Reality Lab, she looks forward to expanding her research interests and exploring the possibilities of immersive technologies within health communication.
Chase Tobiassen
Chase Tobiassen (MBA, Washington State University) is a member of the Murrow Virtual Lab. Tobiassen is an M.A. student at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University. Their research focus is on emerging technology and identity. When not studying, Tobiassen is interested in photography, livestreaming, illustration, and working on their homelab server.