Conferences
Graduate student Nishat Tasnim presented “The Condolence Clause: The Boundaries of Accountability after the San Diego Mosque Shooting” at the conference Confronting the Rising Tide: Islamophobia, White Nationalism, and the Global Assault on Muslim Life conference.
Nishat presented research examining how five major U.S. news outlets framed the May 18, 2026, attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego. Using qualitative framing analysis informed by critical discourse analysis, she explored whether news coverage addressed Islamophobia as a structural problem or focused primarily on individual perpetrators and victims. Her presentation highlighted how sympathetic portrayals of Muslim victims can coexist with limited examination of the political, media, and institutional conditions that perpetuate Islamophobia.
Honors
Professor Lee Humphreys was inducted into Alpha Zeta as an Associate Member. The non-traditional, professional fraternity is devoted to the advancement of agriculture and the life sciences. The honor recognizes CALS members committed to promoting leadership, service, fellowship, and excellence in the fields of agriculture and the life sciences. Lee’s association with CALS goes way back—she’s a ’99 alum!
Lectures
On October 15, Associate Professor Neil Lewis, Jr., presented a lecture at Cornell Volunteer Summit titled “Motivating Teams Even When Members May Not See Eye to Eye.”
This talk explored the behavioral science behind intergroup communication and how it can be harnessed to build productive teams (even when team members disagree). Participants learned research-backed strategies for strengthening collaboration, fostering belonging, and motivating people to work together toward common goals to create lasting impact.
On October 20, Associate Professor Claire Wardle presented “Trust in Transition: Libraries in the Context of Our Contemporary Information Ecosystems” at the Corning Museum of Glass. The lecture, for the South Central Regional Library Council, focused on the ways AI is impacting the roles libraries are playing in their local communities.
Media Mentions
Professor Brooke Duffy was quoted in three publications regarding her insights on social media and user engagement. In the Wall Street Journal article “Americans Can’t Stop Watching Videos of People Paying Down Their Debt,” she explains how #DebtTok draws people into a taboo topic they can’t talk about with friends and family and normalizes it. In The Guardian article “Could I Make Six Figures from My Couch? Influencers Said Yes—So I Tried,” she explains social media influencers’ efforts to have passive income and a hybrid of labor and leisure. She also offered her perspective on real-life influencers in The Atlantic article “The Rise of the IRL Influencer.”
Publications
Han Li, graduate student Inhwan Bae, Pengfei Zhao, Professor Natalie Bazarova, Associate Professor Drew Margolin, October 2026, “Two Paths of Conversation: How Stories and Statistics Are Associated with Community Engagement in Online Debate Surrounding Vaccine Science Skeptical Content,” Communication Research.
This study examines articulation of and challenges to vaccine skepticism in the Reddit community r/DebateVaccines. Via a large-scale, LLM-assisted observational analysis of posts, comments, and engagement, the authors find two distinct paths of conversation. The rational pathway, initiated by presentations of statistical evidence, is marked by concentrated participation and corrective contestation around statistical claims and counterclaims, and tends toward a single evidence-based truth “approved” by one-click reactions. In contrast, the narrative pathway, initiated by stories or anecdotes, is characterized by generative engagement featuring broader and more distributed participation, more discursive and generative engagement, and greater acceptance of competing viewpoints.
