Graduate Student Directory

Communication, Culture & Media

	Julia Belmiro she/her Email: jb4673@drexel.edu Research Interests: Intrapersonal Communication, AI, Epistemology LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-belmiro/ Biography Julia is a second-year international PhD student from Brazil in Drexel University's Communication, Culture and Media program. She holds a BA in Social Work and an MS in Psychology, and her interdisciplinary background informs her research framework and interests. Julia focuses on mediated intrapersonal communication, epistemic issues, and artificial intelligence. Her work explores how mediated intrapersonal dialogue through AI systems shapes individuals' self-concepts and influences epistemology. Currently, her research aligns closely with these themes, and she aims to make meaningful contributions to the field through her unique interdisciplinary and cultural perspective.
	Essien Oku Essien he/him/his Email: eoe25@drexel.edu Research Interests: Applied Communication Research, Social Logics, Semiotics, Media Studies, Communication Pedagogy, Climate Change LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/essien-oku-essien-58356523b Biography Essien Oku Essien is a third-year PhD candidate in the Department of Communication, Culture, and Media Studies at Drexel University. He holds a Master of Science in Communication from Drexel University and graduated with First-Class Honors in Mass Communication from the Cross River University of Technology, Nigeria. His work, spanning semiotics, climate change communication, social logics, and pedagogy, has earned him multiple awards and competitive research fellowships across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Italy, Sweden, Ireland, Greece, Kenya, Nigeria, and Australia. In recognition of his scholarly impact and climate advocacy, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in Communication and Climate Advocacy by the American Management University, USA. Essien serves on Drexel University’s Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) Advisory Board, the Graduate College’s Diversity Advisory Council (DAC), and as a student representative on the University Faculty Senate for Student Life. He is the President of the International Graduate Students Association (IGSA) and the Drexel Black Graduate Students Union (DBGSU). Recently, his advocacy research on ‘Colonial Logics in the Mobilization Mechanics of Climate Disinformation’ was commissioned as the CAAD Consortium’s official national report for COP30 Brazil. He is the author of the book “The Church of the Last Age”, with another forthcoming title on “The African Theory of Being”.
	David Frank he/him Email: david.frank@drexel.edu Research Interests: Television, Animation, Satire, Political Economy, Media Effects LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-frank-writer/ Biography David Frank is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in Drexel University’s Communication, Culture and Media PhD program. He studied screenwriting at Carnegie Mellon University and earned his Master’s in Film Studies from the University of Southern California. His research examines the political economy of streaming television, with a focus on outsourced creative labor in TV and film animation. David’s work has been recognized with the Daniel Walden Award for Best Graduate Paper at the 2023 MAPACA conference for his essay “In-Between Seoul and Springfield: Korean Animation and The Simpsons.” He also presented at the 2024 PCA conference on the global distribution of animation labor in Netflix co-productions. At Drexel, he teaches courses on political satire and media effects. His broader research interests include political communication on Twitter and the role of celebrity amplification in shaping news coverage.
	John Gigante he/him Email: jt3367@drexel.edu Research Interests: Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Semiotics of Space and Place, Mobility and Infrastructure, Necropolitical Social Structures LinkedIn – Biography John is a fourth-year PhD candidate (A.B.D.) whose research examines how critical realist social theory and necropolitics illuminate contemporary media, culture, and communication. His earlier graduate work produced an interdisciplinary thesis that brought together early twentieth-century American realist and naturalist literature, historical analysis, popular culture and television, and contemporary Latin American literature. This work established the foundation for his subsequent research at Drexel on alienation, violence-as-entertainment, the mobilities of capital, and the ways capital materially and symbolically shapes the body. His dissertation advances an interdisciplinary synthesis that argues for a renewed moral reflexivity within critical realism. It maps the geographical and social contours of necropolitical structures and analyzes media artifacts for how they represent, obscure, or naturalize these forms of power, as well as how audiences interpret their presence or absence.
	Awni Kalkat she/her Email: akk76@drexel.edu Research Interests: Spirituality, Consumerism, Digital Consumer Culture, Digital Cultures, Social Media, Digital Wellness and Healing LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/awni-kalkat/ Biography Awni, pronounced [uh]-v-[nee], is a third year PhD candidate in the Communication, Culture and Media program at Drexel. Fascinated by media effects and journalistic integrity, she authored an undergraduate thesis examining the manipulation of news agenda setting by major politicians, exploring spin in public relations as a deterrent to objective practices in the fourth estate. During her internship at the reputed National/Financial Post, Awni dove into the world of economic, political and journalistic writing. In her master's research paper, Awni explored AI technology (the world of Alexa), gaining its prominence in domestic spaces using trust as a promotional tactic in Amazon Alexa commercials, while downplaying concerns of privacy. Her current research interests include analyzing the audio and visual components of social media posts, which draw users into a never-ending cycle of consumerism in the name of wellness, spiritual healing, and rehabilitation.
	Milos Kartalija Email: mk3397@drexel.edu Research Interests: Parasocial Relationships, Social Media, Loneliness and Belonging LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/milos-kartalija-b41073149/ Biography Milos is a first-year PhD student in the Communication, Culture, and Media program. He studied Communication and Media Studies during his time as an undergraduate and spent three years working in various analytics roles at marketing and public relations agencies. Milos’ research interests are mainly focused on social media and parasocial relationships as well as loneliness and belonging online. He is also interested in social media and commodification of the self.
	Sonika Lamichhane she/her Email: sl3859@drexel.edu Research Interests: Fake News, Social Media, Digital Media and AI LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonika-lamichhane-7b0b36220/ Biography Sonika is a PhD candidate of communication, culture, and media. She completed her undergraduate studies at St. Xavier's College, majoring in English and journalism. She got a Bidya Bhusan B, the most prestigious literary award from the president in 2018, and a gold medal from the education minister for securing the highest grades in her master’s degree. During her master's studies, Sonika initiated research exploring the effects of social networking sites on adolescents. This research sparked her interest in fake news and misinformation, fueling her passion for investigating and addressing these pressing issues. Apart from this, she has written many articles on contemporary issues and done voiceovers for many documentaries in Nepal.
	Alice Liu she/her/hers Email: al3582@drexel.edu Research Interests: Gender Identity, Culture Studies, Chinese Studies, Social Media LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-liu-755521136/ Biography As a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Drexel University's Culture Communication and Media program, my research centers on the confluence of gender identity, reproductive justice, and the transformative impact of social media, particularly within the context of Chinese society. Grounded in the traditions of cultural studies and feminist phenomenology, my work delves into online discourses concerning women's bodily experiences such as body shaming, abortion, and more. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, I aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of the multifaceted relationships between media, gender identity, and social change in contemporary China. Prior to Drexel, I completed my Bachelor's degree at Truman State University and Master's degree at University of Cincinnati in communication.
	Alejandro Manga he/el Email: am4725@drexel.edu Research Interests: Mobility justice and transportation equity, Bike movements and cultures, Environmental and planning discourses, Qualitative Research methods in planning and transportation studies, Visual and mobile ethnography LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandro-manga-tinoco-13143896/ Biography Alejandro is a Ph.D. candidate from Colombia. An economist and historian by training, he started his professional life working for consulting firms working on network, transport, and urban economics. An activist interested in environmental causes since 2012, he drifted towards the world of bike cultures and bike advocacy through a local bike kitchen on the French side of the Greater Geneva area, where he moved for grad school. For his master's thesis, he was invited as a Visiting Graduate Researcher to UCLA. Serendipity changed his life when the admissions officers in charge of his file told him that cycling in LA sucked, and he should do something about it. It was bike week at UCLA, and during the first conference he listened to, he met the organizers of People from Mobility Justice. Alejandro changed his topic of research to bike advocacy and mobility justice, asked Mimi Sheller to become his adviser, and started his Ph.D. journey. His research studies the role of bike movements in ecological transitions. Since their emergence in the late 19th century, bike movements have afforded social innovations like paved roads, mobility justice, mountain biking, and bike shares, as well as affording spaces of emancipation for blacks, women, and migrants. They serve as conduits for policies and practices like mobility justice and bike kitchens, and they have effectively lobbied for better cycling and walking policies by writing the policies, mobilizing in the ground to pressure for social change, and communicating about it.
	Hana Park Email: hp484@drexel.edu Research Interests: Influencer-Public Relationships, Social Media Analytics, Public Relations, Digital Communication LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanapark316 Biography Hana Park is a PhD candidate in Communication, Culture, and Media at Drexel University. She received her BA from the Catholic University of Korea, where she studied cultural theories, anthropology, popular culture, and sociolinguistics. Her research centers on the relationships between influencers and the public, social media analytics, public relations, and effective communication strategies to foster audience engagement.
	Maggie Riegel she/her Email: msr342@drexel.edu Research Interests: Gender/queer Studies, Critical Race Theory, Meme Studies/Culture, Horror Studies, Social Media, Film/Television Studies, Intersectional Feminism LinkedIn – Biography Maggie S. Riegel is a fifth year PhD candidate of Communication, Culture, and Media at Drexel University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science from Moravian University and a master’s degree in political science from Lehigh University. After working in the service industry and nonprofit world for several years, she returned to school in 2020 to complete a master’s certificate in women, gender, and sexuality studies from Lehigh University before enrolling at Drexel. Her dissertation examines the racial and gendered discourses on TikTok during the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. In the spring of 2025, she designed and taught her own class about memes and internet culture ("Dank Memes for Drexel Teens: An Introduction to Memetic Communication and Internet Culture) at Drexel University. She is also the co-founder and organizer for Greenway Pride, an annual pride event held along South Bethlehem’s Greenway in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In the spring of 2026, she will begin as an adjunct in the communications department at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and is currently working on her first book manuscript about her autoethnographic experiences as a meme page creator/administrator. She is supported in life by her partner, Dr. Michael Pipestone, as well as their five cats, a Russian dwarf hamster, as well as their white Swiss shepherd, Marx (named after Karl, not Groucho). Outside of academia, she is also a mixed media artist and enjoys cooking, binge watching horror movies, and making memes.
	Cadence Roy they/he Email: cmr478@drexel.edu Research Interests: Digital Placemaking, Queer Theory, Crip Theory, Trans Studies, Social Media, Critical Media Studies, Solidarity LinkedIn – Biography Cadence Roy is a first-year PhD student in the Communication, Culture and Media program. They hold a bachelor’s degree in Communication from the University of Delaware. His undergraduate thesis studied how Palestinians and Stop Cop City activists deploy digital placemaking strategies to facilitate transnational solidarity and connect to homelands rendered inaccessible by spatial destruction. Cadence’s current research investigates the insolubility of crip and trans theories, how these frameworks productively figure into Communication studies, and how their entanglement informs trans/disabled coalition-building and solidarity on and offline. Cadence lives in West Philadelphia with their partner, Noel, and their calico cat, Alma.
	Giuseppe Salomone Email: salomojj@drexel.edu Research Interests: Homosexuality and media effects, Intersectionality and the LGBTQA+ sectors, The LGBTQA+ experience and perspective, Sex and the city, Liminality, rites of passage and homosexuality, Media’s impact on the perceptions of gay culture, Media and the AIDS epidemic and its overall impact on the perception of gay males, The liminal states of gay male culture, The sociological Imagination, The performance and the looking glass self LinkedIn – Biography Giuseppe has received most of his education from Drexel University. He is a gay activist and has worked on many committees and boards within and across Higher Education (including President of Drexel’s LGBTQA alumni group, the LGBTQA faculty and staff resource group and AACRAO’s LGBTQA+ caucus) to better the LGBTQA+ experience for faculty, staff, and students. His research domains center on media’s portrayal of gay culture and its impact on mainstream’s perception and acceptance of homosexuality. In his spare time, he enjoys music, science fiction graphic novels, vintage thrift shops and collecting vintage vinyl. He currently lives in the Graduate Hospital section of Philadelphia, with his partner Eric and their three chihuahuas, Farrah, Harper, and Winter.
	Emma Whitehouse she/they Email: etw38@dragons.drexel.edu Research Interests: Public Health, Climate Change, Bioethics, Scientific Literacy LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-whitehouse-mbe-736776144/ Biography Emma Whitehouse is a first-year PhD student in the Communication, Culture and Media program. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at Drexel, a BA in Communication, she researched corporate social advocacy and responsibility and found that it was her professional calling. After graduating, she pursued a Master of Bioethics degree at the University of Pennsylvania. Their research foci are public health and climate communication, bioethics and environmental ethics, and scientific literacy.
	Sophia Zhao she/her Email: sz629@drexel.edu Research Interests: Spatiality, Museum Communication, Digital Museums, Institutional Networks, Truth, Epistemic Justice LinkedIn – Biography My research interests stem from my past curatorial work in museums, where I became interested in how cultural institutions construct meaning and how their communication and digital extensions shape how people encounter knowledge and what they accept as truth. I aim to explore how museums function as communicative spaces, especially how digital spatiality influences perception and the conditions under which cultural knowledge becomes meaningful. Part of my current work focuses on developing conceptual frameworks for understanding spatiality and epistemic justice in digital museums. I also conduct social network analysis on institutional networks to study how various forms of connection shape cultural influence and narrative. I’m currently a Ph.D. student in the Communication, Culture, and Media program at Drexel University. I received my B.A. in Art History and Visual Culture from Denison University.