2023-2024 Strosacker Research Fellowship Winners

June 3, 2024 - Ashley Wilson

The Health & Risk Communication Center Strosacker Research Fellowship provides funding intended to support opportunities for graduate students to engage in hands-on research, apply theoretical constructs to real world health practices, and share results and impacts from funded projects with community partners. All the projects focus on issues that are important to people in Michigan. This year’s recipients include Ph.D. students; Sofia Aparício, Department of Communicative Sciences & Disorders, Ava Francesca Battocchio, Department of Advertising and Public Relations, Sou’d Ebdah, Department of Communicative Sciences & Disorders, Moonsun Jeon, Department of Communication, Boram Lee, Department of Media & Information, and MA Students; Xiaoran Cui, Department of Communication and Margot Stern, Department of Communicative Sciences & Disorders. 

Aparício’s project focuses on the integration of AI in education, which has become a crucial focus in the United States, with Michigan at the forefront of developing policies and implementation strategies. Specifically, she will engage with parents to better understand their perceptions of personalized learning, ensuring that AI implementation aligns with parental expectations and concerns. The goal is to find new ways to contribute to the holistic development and well-being of students, strengthening the link between education, community health, and future prosperity in mid-Michigan. Sofia’s advisor on this project is Dr. Fashina Aladé.

Battocchio's dissertation examines the influence of place on people’s identity and how it affects the sharing of health and safety information in remote communities located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Ava Francesca's research focuses on how residents contribute to the creation of information for local organizations, often filling gaps in local news, and how local values and characteristics shape this content. Their study combines fieldwork in the Upper Peninsula with computational textual analysis of digital content to understand how identity affects the region's online and offline media environments. Ava Francesca’s advisor on this project is Dr. Kjerstin Thorson, with support from their dissertation committee, which includes Dr. Jean Hardy, Dr. Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice, and Dr. Marisa Smith.

Ebdah’s research focuses on people with head and neck cancer (HNC). Frequently, HNC treatments lead to swallowing and voice disorders, affecting patients’ quality of life. Given the shared muscles and neural network controlling swallowing and voicing, Ebdah argues that vocal exercises could have the potential to address both disorders simultaneously. As such, his project will use a novel vocal exercise, grounded on a well-studied approach, to test its hypothesized effect on the swallowing and vocal functions in HNC patients treated with radiation therapy in Michigan. The goal is to develop a cost-effective, tool-free, and patient-friendly exercise that can mitigate the swallowing and voice burdens among this population. Soud’s advisor on this project is Dr. Jeff Searl.

Recent immigrants to Michigan make important economic and social contributions to life in the state. Yet, people may still hold negative attitudes toward immigrants; their actions can create stress and the health problems that go along with it. Jeon’s project seeks to understand the basis of people’s attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. It aims to test a model to understand how the information people receive about immigrants can stimulate a process in one’s brains that protects their self-concept and shapes their attitudes. Her project can help with understanding how people treat immigrants in their communities, designing information to promote positive attitudes toward immigrants, and reducing the stress associated with negative intergroup interactions. Jeon’s advisor on this project is Dr. Maria Lapinski.

Lee's research focuses on first-generation students from rural areas who attend Michigan State University. These students might feel more stressed and anxious because of the new surroundings around them. The research will examine the role of digital media and the homeschooling experience in students' social network formation. The goal is to understand how COVID-19 has affected MSU students' health and how to support them better. Bo's advisor on this project is Dr. Keith Hampton.

Cui’s project aims to enhance digital health literacy among older adults in Michigan by better understanding familial reverse mentoring, where younger family members educate their older family members on navigating digital health information. By examining family communication patterns and their influence on the learning processes, this study seeks to identify effective strategies to protect vulnerable older adults from health disinformation online. Cui’s advisor on this project is Dr. Elizabeth Dorrance Hall.

Children’s books play an important role in informing children and adolescents’ perceptions of themselves, those around them, and how to navigate the world. Disabilities, specifically autism, are still rarely included in these stories, and even less frequently are autistic people asked for their opinions on them. Stern’s research seeks to understand how representations of autism in these books are viewed by autistic adolescents and how they might seek to change the dominant narrative presented by autistic and nonautistic authors alike. Margot’s primary advisor on this project is Dr. Courtney Venker.

The Strosacker Awards are awarded and administered through the Health and Risk Communication Center (HRCC): Healthy People-Healthy Planet. The HRCC is an interdisciplinary center with over 50 faculty affiliates which supports and facilitates research on health, risk, environment, and science communication. It is home to the Health and Risk Communication MA program and its Iris Scholars Program translates research findings into practical, useful information for people. For more information on the HRCC visit http://hrcc.cas.msu.edu/.