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Graduate Student Directory

Communication, Culture & Media

	Julia Belmiro she/her Email: jb4673@drexel.edu Research Interests: Intrapersonal Communication, AI, Epistemology LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography Julia is a second-year international PhD student from Brazil in 91��Ƭ��'s Communication, Culture and Media program. She holds a BA in Social Work and an MS in Psychology, and her interdisciplinary background informs her research framework and interests. Julia focuses on mediated intrapersonal communication, epistemic issues, and artificial intelligence. Her work explores how mediated intrapersonal dialogue through AI systems shapes individuals' self-concepts and influences epistemology. Currently, her research aligns closely with these themes, and she aims to make meaningful contributions to the field through her unique interdisciplinary and cultural perspective.
	Essien Oku Essien he/him/his Email: eoe25@drexel.edu Research Interests: Science Communication, Climate Communication Systems, Applied Semiotics Cultural Analysis, Media and Society LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography Essien Oku Essien is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Communication, Culture and Media at 91��Ƭ�� and an Adjunct Professor of Communication Studies at Rowan University. Originally from Cross River State, Nigeria, he holds a Master of Science from 91��Ƭ�� and graduated with First-Class Honors as the Best Graduating Student from Cross River University of Technology. His interdisciplinary scholarship spans climate communication, applied semiotics, and postcolonial theory. His research has appeared in Social Semiotics, Social Sciences, and Language and Semiotic Studies, with additional publications accepted by Urban Science, Economy and Society, and Environmental Sociology journals. His scholarly distinctions include the National Communication Association’s Top Student Paper, multiple international Emerging Scholar and Top Paper Awards across the US, Europe and Latin America, and competitive research fellowships at Duke University, Uppsala University (Sweden), and the Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) Consortium. His research on colonial logics and climate disinformation was commissioned for the COP30 Global South Report. Essien served as President of the International Graduate Students Association (IGSA) and Drexel Black Graduate Students Union (DBGSU). A delegate to the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), he advances scholarship, academic leadership, and international climate policy engagement.
	David Frank he/him Email: david.frank@drexel.edu Research Interests: Television, Animation, Satire, Political Economy, Media Effects LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography David Frank is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in 91��Ƭ��’s Communication, Culture and Media PhD program. He studied screenwriting at Carnegie Mellon University and earned his Master’s in Film Studies from the University of Southern California. His research examines the political economy of streaming television, with a focus on outsourced creative labor in TV and film animation. David’s work has been recognized with the Daniel Walden Award for Best Graduate Paper at the 2023 MAPACA conference for his essay “In-Between Seoul and Springfield: Korean Animation and The Simpsons.” He also presented at the 2024 PCA conference on the global distribution of animation labor in Netflix co-productions. At Drexel, he teaches courses on political satire and media effects. His broader research interests include political communication on Twitter and the role of celebrity amplification in shaping news coverage.
	John Gigante he/him Email: jt3367@drexel.edu Research Interests: Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Semiotics of Space and Place, Mobility and Infrastructure, Necropolitical Social Structures LinkedIn – Biography John is a fourth-year PhD candidate (A.B.D.) whose research examines how critical realist social theory and necropolitics illuminate contemporary media, culture, and communication. His earlier graduate work produced an interdisciplinary thesis that brought together early twentieth-century American realist and naturalist literature, historical analysis, popular culture and television, and contemporary Latin American literature. This work established the foundation for his subsequent research at Drexel on alienation, violence-as-entertainment, the mobilities of capital, and the ways capital materially and symbolically shapes the body. His dissertation advances an interdisciplinary synthesis that argues for a renewed moral reflexivity within critical realism. It maps the geographical and social contours of necropolitical structures and analyzes media artifacts for how they represent, obscure, or naturalize these forms of power, as well as how audiences interpret their presence or absence.
	Ariel Hooks she/her Email: aah363@drexel.edu Research Interests: Color Theory, Aesthetics, Gender Studies, Anatomy Studies, Literary Theory, Video Games LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography Ariel is a first-year PhD student in the Communication, Culture, and Media program at Drexel. She holds two BAs in English and History from the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State, and an MA in English from Villanova University. Her previous graduate work focused on the intersection of literary and aesthetic representations of the “femme fatale” in noir novels and midcentury-based video games, and she hopes to continue this study in her doctoral work through the lenses of literary theory and art history. Her other academic interests include animated sitcom studies, representations of women in death, anatomy studies, and color theory. Ariel’s pedagogical focus is on student relatability to subject matter, particularly as it pertains to classic literature, and on the intersection between visual and textual communication, often relying on tools such as interactive gameplays, film, and artistic depictions of text-based works. Outside of academia, Ariel is the founder of The Marble Writer, a small business specializing in citation and bibliography creation/editing; when she’s not working, you can find her wandering around Barnes & Noble, hosting game nights with her husband and their two cats, and religiously watching Bob’s Burgers.
	Awni Kalkat she/her Email: akk76@drexel.edu Research Interests: Spirituality, Consumerism, Digital Consumer Culture, Digital Cultures, Social Media, Digital Wellness and Healing LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography Awni, pronounced [uh]-v-[nee], is a third year PhD candidate in the Communication, Culture and Media program at Drexel. Fascinated by media effects and journalistic integrity, she authored an undergraduate thesis examining the manipulation of news agenda setting by major politicians, exploring spin in public relations as a deterrent to objective practices in the fourth estate. During her internship at the reputed National/Financial Post, Awni dove into the world of economic, political and journalistic writing. In her master's research paper, Awni explored AI technology (the world of Alexa), gaining its prominence in domestic spaces using trust as a promotional tactic in Amazon Alexa commercials, while downplaying concerns of privacy. Her current research interests include analyzing the audio and visual components of social media posts, which draw users into a never-ending cycle of consumerism in the name of wellness, spiritual healing, and rehabilitation.
	Milos Kartalija Email: mk3397@drexel.edu Research Interests: Parasocial Relationships, Social Media, Loneliness and Belonging LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography Milos is a first-year PhD student in the Communication, Culture, and Media program. He studied Communication and Media Studies during his time as an undergraduate and spent three years working in various analytics roles at marketing and public relations agencies. Milos’ research interests are mainly focused on social media and parasocial relationships as well as loneliness and belonging online. He is also interested in social media and commodification of the self.
	Sonika Lamichhane she/her Email: sl3859@drexel.edu Research Interests: Misinformation, Disinformation, Fake news, Digital Media, Artificial Intelligence LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography Sonika is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Communication, Culture, and Media. She completed her undergraduate studies at St. Xavier's College, majoring in English and journalism. In recognition of her academic and literary achievements, she received the Bidya Bhusan B, one of the most prestigious literary awards awarded by the President, in 2018. She also received a gold medal from the education minister for securing the highest grades in her master's degree. During her master's studies, Sonika initiated research examining the effects of social networking sites on adolescents. This early research sparked her interest in fake news and misinformation and inspired her continued commitment to understanding how information circulates, how audiences engage with it, and how to identify and address misinformation. Her current academic interests focus on misinformation, fact-checking, and the role of digital technologies in shaping the information environment. Beyond academia, Sonika has written numerous articles on contemporary issues and contributed voiceovers to documentaries in Nepal.
	Alice Liu she/her/hers Email: al3582@drexel.edu Research Interests: Gender Identity, Culture Studies, Chinese Studies, Social Media LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography As a third-year Ph.D. candidate in 91��Ƭ��'s Culture Communication and Media program, my research centers on the confluence of gender identity, reproductive justice, and the transformative impact of social media, particularly within the context of Chinese society. Grounded in the traditions of cultural studies and feminist phenomenology, my work delves into online discourses concerning women's bodily experiences such as body shaming, abortion, and more. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, I aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of the multifaceted relationships between media, gender identity, and social change in contemporary China. Prior to Drexel, I completed my Bachelor's degree at Truman State University and Master's degree at University of Cincinnati in communication.
	Alejandro Manga he/el Email: am4725@drexel.edu Research Interests: Mobility justice and transportation equity, Bike movements and cultures, Environmental and planning discourses, Qualitative Research methods in planning and transportation studies, Visual and mobile ethnography LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography Alejandro is a Ph.D. candidate from Colombia. An economist and historian by training, he started his professional life working for consulting firms working on network, transport, and urban economics. An activist interested in environmental causes since 2012, he drifted towards the world of bike cultures and bike advocacy through a local bike kitchen on the French side of the Greater Geneva area, where he moved for grad school. For his master's thesis, he was invited as a Visiting Graduate Researcher to UCLA. Serendipity changed his life when the admissions officers in charge of his file told him that cycling in LA sucked, and he should do something about it. It was bike week at UCLA, and during the first conference he listened to, he met the organizers of People from Mobility Justice. Alejandro changed his topic of research to bike advocacy and mobility justice, asked Mimi Sheller to become his adviser, and started his Ph.D. journey. His research studies the role of bike movements in ecological transitions. Since their emergence in the late 19th century, bike movements have afforded social innovations like paved roads, mobility justice, mountain biking, and bike shares, as well as affording spaces of emancipation for blacks, women, and migrants. They serve as conduits for policies and practices like mobility justice and bike kitchens, and they have effectively lobbied for better cycling and walking policies by writing the policies, mobilizing in the ground to pressure for social change, and communicating about it.
	Hana Park Email: hp484@drexel.edu Research Interests: Influencer-Public Relationships, Social Media Analytics, Public Relations, Digital Communication LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography Hana Park is a PhD candidate in Communication, Culture, and Media at 91��Ƭ��. She received her BA from the Catholic University of Korea, where she studied cultural theories, anthropology, popular culture, and sociolinguistics. Her research centers on the relationships between influencers and the public, social media analytics, public relations, and effective communication strategies to foster audience engagement.
	Cadence Roy they/he Email: cmr478@drexel.edu Research Interests: Digital Placemaking, Queer Theory, Crip Theory, Trans Studies, Social Media, Critical Media Studies, Solidarity LinkedIn – Biography Cadence Roy is a first-year PhD student in the Communication, Culture and Media program. They hold a bachelor’s degree in Communication from the University of Delaware. His undergraduate thesis studied how Palestinians and Stop Cop City activists deploy digital placemaking strategies to facilitate transnational solidarity and connect to homelands rendered inaccessible by spatial destruction. Cadence’s current research investigates the insolubility of crip and trans theories, how these frameworks productively figure into Communication studies, and how their entanglement informs trans/disabled coalition-building and solidarity on and offline. Cadence lives in West Philadelphia with their partner, Noel, and their calico cat, Alma.
	Giuseppe Salomone Email: salomojj@drexel.edu Research Interests: Homosexuality and media effects, Intersectionality and the LGBTQA+ sectors, The LGBTQA+ experience and perspective, Sex and the city, Liminality, rites of passage and homosexuality, Media’s impact on the perceptions of gay culture, Media and the AIDS epidemic and its overall impact on the perception of gay males, The liminal states of gay male culture, The sociological Imagination, The performance and the looking glass self LinkedIn – Biography Giuseppe has received most of his education from 91��Ƭ��. He is a gay activist and has worked on many committees and boards within and across Higher Education (including President of Drexel’s LGBTQA alumni group, the LGBTQA faculty and staff resource group and AACRAO’s LGBTQA+ caucus) to better the LGBTQA+ experience for faculty, staff, and students. His research domains center on media’s portrayal of gay culture and its impact on mainstream’s perception and acceptance of homosexuality. In his spare time, he enjoys music, science fiction graphic novels, vintage thrift shops and collecting vintage vinyl. He currently lives in the Graduate Hospital section of Philadelphia, with his partner Eric and their three chihuahuas, Farrah, Harper, and Winter.
	Hannah Tardie they/she Email: ht452@drexel.edu Research Interests: History of Technology Feminist Technoscience Material Culture Studies Media Archaeology Labor Studies Queer Theory LinkedIn – Biography Hannah Tardie is a first-year PhD student in the Communication, Culture, and Media program. They are interested in the history and cultural figuration of electricity throughout the pre-Industrialization to Cold War eras. Hannah plans to use material culture studies, the history of science and technology, feminist technoscience, labor studies, and media archaeology to explore the cultural manufacture of electricity in tandem with electronic objects, computation, and industrial machinery. Prior to studying at Drexel, she studied English Literature and Visual Art at Bates College and received a master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. Hannah initially began working with electronic objects through their art practice and routinely teaches courses on electronics design at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Outside of the institution, Hannah teaches electronics building and repair classes at myriad local organizations. In 2024 they started an annual conference/unconference event called the Electronics Faire at Temple University which features a keynote series, hands-on workshops, an art exhibition, live electronic music performances, and a walkthrough faire tabled by organizations doing radical work with electronics. Hannah is deeply inspired by the solar punk movement and views DIY approaches to electronics such as avenues for tech sovereignty.
	Emma Whitehouse she/they Email: etw38@dragons.drexel.edu Research Interests: Health communication, Online health communities, Health equity, Bioethics, Health social media, Public health, Shared decision making in healthcare, Scientific communication LinkedIn – System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Object] Biography Emma Whitehouse is a third-year PhD candidate in the Communication, Culture and Media program. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at Drexel, a BA in Communication, she researched corporate social advocacy and responsibility and found that it was their professional calling. After graduating, she pursued a Master of Bioethics degree at the University of Pennsylvania. Their research foci are health communication, particularily focusing on digital media and how that impacts care. Her publications span popular and academic outlets, from the Philadelphia Inquirer to Expert Review of Media Devices (Taylor and Francis) to the 2026 American Society for Bioethics and Humanities conference. In their free time, they enjoy volunteering at Bartrams Garden, painting, and doing yoga.
	Sophia Zhao she/her Email: sz629@drexel.edu Research Interests: Spatiality, Museum Communication, Digital Museums, Institutional Networks, Truth, Epistemic Justice LinkedIn – Biography My research interests stem from my past curatorial work in museums, where I became interested in how cultural institutions construct meaning and how their communication and digital extensions shape how people encounter knowledge and what they accept as truth. I aim to explore how museums function as communicative spaces, especially how digital spatiality influences perception and the conditions under which cultural knowledge becomes meaningful. Part of my current work focuses on developing conceptual frameworks for understanding spatiality and epistemic justice in digital museums. I also conduct social network analysis on institutional networks to study how various forms of connection shape cultural influence and narrative. I’m currently a Ph.D. student in the Communication, Culture, and Media program at 91��Ƭ��. I received my B.A. in Art History and Visual Culture from Denison University.