Full recording for Dr. Rains’ insightful talk on COVID-19 Mandates through the Lens of Psychological Reactance Theory is now available on our YouTube Channel! Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKmJF_IRSOU

Dr. Steve Rains is a Professor of Communication at the University of Arizona. His research is situated in the areas of health communication, social influence, and communication and technology. He is interested in better understanding how and why messages influence people, particularly in health contexts and when using communication technologies. His work in recent years has primarily focused on social support, though he routinely studies digital coping, incivility, persuasion resistance, and related topics. He is especially interested in leveraging computational social science techniques to explore the dynamic communication processes involved in these phenomena.

The CHRC is pleased to announce the Fall 2023 CHRC Virtual Seminar Series featuring two outstanding scholars in risk/health communication. We welcome you to join us!  To register for the event(s), please fill out this google form: https://shorturl.at/bDFH1.

Event Details

• Speaker: Dr. Janet Yang, University at Buffalo
• Date/Time: October 27 (Friday), 12-1pm, Online via Zoom
• Talk Title: Risk Perception and Risk Mitigation Behaviors related to PFAS Contamination
• Bio: Dr. Janet Yang is a risk communication expert who conducts social scientific research on the cognitive and emotional determinants of risk perception, information behavior, and strategic messaging. Dr Yang has published over 90 peer reviewed journal articles and delivered over 140 presentations at international conferences. Some of her recent projects examine public risk perception and communication behaviors related to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination, climate change, air pollution, and PFAS contamination. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, among others. Dr. Yang’s research has been covered in national and international media such as the New York Times, BBC, NPR, and the Smithsonian Magazine. She was awarded the 2021 Chauncey Starr Distinguished Young Risk Analyst Award by the Society for Risk Analysis and the 2020 Hillier Krieghbaum Under 40 Award by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

• Speaker: Dr. Meghan Moran, Johns Hopkins University
• Date/Time: December 8 (Friday), 12-1pm, Online via Zoom
• Talk Title: The Role of Communication Science in Policy and Regulatory Decision-Making
• Bio: Dr. Meghan Moran is an associate professor in the Department of Health, Behavior & Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, jointly appointed in the Oncology Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is a health communication scholar studying how health information can best be communicated to individuals in different contexts and through different channels. Her expertise is in health communication and persuasion, message design, media effects and health behavior. She studies both micro-level processes of persuasion and social influence, as well as the more macro-level health communication that occurs in society.  Areas of interest include tobacco control and policy, vaccination behaviors, cannabis policy, and cancer prevention. Much of Dr. Moran’s current research uses communication science to inform regulatory policy, specifically in the areas of tobacco and cannabis. She has also conducted research examining vaccine hesitancy and effective strategies for vaccine promotion, and strategies for increasing cancer screening. Dr. Moran earned her PhD in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, and her B.A. in Communication and Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.