Thomas “Frank” Waddell, a predoctoral fellow in the College of Communications at Pennsylvania State University, will join the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications in Fall 2016 as an assistant professor in the Journalism Department.

Waddell will graduate from Penn State in May 2016 with a Ph.D. in mass communication. Prior to attending Penn State, he earned a master’s degree in 2012 and bachelor’s degree in 2010, both in communication from Virginia Tech.

His research focuses on a defining feature of new media: the ability to serve as a source of communication, both individually and collectively. This includes technologies that either allow users to express the self (e.g., avatar-mediated communication, video games) or that afford the ability to monitor the collective sentiment of others (e.g., social media, social television). More generally, he is interested in the ways that nascent trends in digital media (e.g., dual screen interaction) are moderating the psychological effects that media elicit.

Waddell’s passion for media effects was fostered by his interests as an aspiring film student at Virginia Tech, where his coursework in documentary production led to a fascination regarding the possible prosocial influence of film. Although he has ventured away from Hollywood aspirations, he remains driven by the desire to understand the ways that new media shape our perceptions of the world around us.

His has been published at a variety of outlets including the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, PRESENCE and Computers in Human Behavior, among others. He also has presented at a range of conferences including the International Communication Association, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the American Psychological Association. Waddell has also processed more than 1,000 papers in his role as an editorial assistant for the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (2013-present).

Posted: December 14, 2015
Category: College News
Tagged as: Frank Waddell