Speakers

For this year's event, we are pleased to invite five keynote speakers. 

Dr. Astrid Rosenthal von der Pütten  

Astrid Rosenthal von der Pütten (PhD, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany) is a Professor and Director of the research group Individual and Technology at the Department for Technology, Innovation, and Society at RWTH Aachen University. Her research interests include the social effects of artificial entities, human robot interactions (especially research into the uncanny valley), presence, and communication via social media.  

For ISS@TECH, Dr. von der Pütten will lead the Social Robotics and Human-Robot Interactions submission and discussion track. Read more about here work at https://www.itec.rwth-aachen.de/go/id/szbg/lidx/1. 
 

Dr. Vivian Hsueh Hua Chen

Vivian Hsueh Hua Chen (PhD, Arizona State University) is an Associate Professor in Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Her research areas include social interaction in virtual communities, impacts of communication technology, intercultural communication, intergroup relations, technology affordance and gamification for social wellbeing. She has been awarded a total of more than S$6 million of external research funding from organizations such as National Research Foundation, Media Development Authority, Ministry of Education, A*STAR and Inter-Ministry Cyber Wellness Steering Committee in Singapore. Samples of her research can be found in such journals as Computers in Human Behavior and New Media & Society. She is currently the vice chair and incoming chairperson for Game Studies Division of the International Communication Association.

For ISS@TECH, Dr. Chen will lead the Video Gaming and Game Streaming submission and discussion track. Read more about her work at http://research.ntu.edu.sg/expertise/academicprofile/pages/StaffProfile.aspx?ST_EMAILID=CHENHH. 

Dr. Sun Joo “Grace” Ahn

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn (Ph.D., Stanford University) is an Associate Professor at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, and founding director of the Games and Virtual Environments Lab. Her main program of research investigates how interactive digital media such as virtual and augmented reality transform traditional rules of communication and social interactions, looking at how virtual experiences shape the way that people think, feel, and behave in the physical world. Her work is supported by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health and is published in numerous top-tier outlets in the fields of communication, health, and engineering. She is the recipient of the Mary Alice Shaver Promising Professor Award from the American Academy of Advertising, the inaugural Early Career Award from the National Communication Association's Health Communication Division, and the Krieghbaum Under-40 Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

For ISS@TECH, Dr. Ahn will lead the Progressive Embodiment and Virtual World submission and discussion track. Read more about her work at https://grady.uga.edu/faculty/sun-joo-grace-ahn/.

Dr. Allison Eden

Allison Eden (PhD, Michigan State University) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University, specializing in media entertainment research. Her work is interdisciplinary, drawing from communication and media psychology, social psychology, and neuroscience in the areas of media psychology, media entertainment, and media processing. She has been published in Journal of Communication, Media Psychology, Journal of Media Psychology, and CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking among others. She is also an associate editor with the Journal of Media Psychology. Allison is a founding organizer and current Chair of the Communication Science and Biology Interest Group of the International Communication Association.

For ISS@TECH, Dr. Eden will lead the Media Entertainment and Technology submission and discussion track. Read more about her work at https://comartsci.msu.edu/our-people/allison-eden. 

Dr. Veronika Karnowski

Veronika Karnowski (PhD, University of Zurich) is a Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at LMU Munich, where she received her Habilitation in 2018. She works at the Department of Media and Communication. She is a founding editor of mobile media & communication. From 2015 to 2017, she served as first chair for the Mobile Communication Interest Group with the International Communication Association. Her research interests include mobile media (usage and appropriation of mobile media, situational influences in mobile media use, mobile media and migration, mHealth) and social media (especially news diffusion and usage in social media), as well as empirical methods) 

For ISS@TECH, Dr. Karnowski will lead the Mobile Communication and Social Media submission and discussion track. Read more about her work at https://www.en.ls1.ifkw.uni-muenchen.de/staff/team/karnowski_veronika/index.html.