Biography

In fall of 2019, I joined the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota as an Associate Professor, where I hold the Don and Carole Larson Professorship in Health Communication. In 2024, I was promoted to a full professor. It’s been fantastic to be home in the Midwest and I deeply appreciate my colleagues here at Minnesota.

Emily Vraga in Hubbard School, 2022

My research investigates methods to identify and correct misinformation on social media, to build news literacy especially outside the classroom to help audiences help audiences distinguish between high and low quality information, and to encourage people to consume more diverse information online. Across my research, I explore how social media shapes our interactions with each other and the world, and try to find ways in which we can use social media to improve democratic society.

My research spans politics, science, and health topics. My background in political communication leads me to think about these problems as fundamentally political but not inherently partisan. Whether it’s helping people better understand the scientific process, encouraging the spread of more high-quality journalism, or addressing global pandemics, mobilizing people on a large scale is inherently political.

Because my research brings together diverse perspectives from health, politics, science, and journalism, I highly value collaborative work. It also requires me to embrace diverse methodologies to better match the evolving media environment, including experimental designs, survey research, content analysis, computational methods, eye tracking, and qualitative interviews. I have published over 90 scholarly journal articles on these topics in a range of journals.

I also think it’s important to share what I do and what I find with the public and interested stakeholders. I have worked with health and science organizations and social media companies to discuss how to improve our information environments. I invite opportunities to talk about the practical meaning of my research for how we can all work to make society a better place.

Teaching is an important part of this equation. I enjoy working with students to help them discover for themselves the ways in which communication fundamentally shapes society and their own role in this process. I will always remember my first undergraduate class in journalism and media. It forced me to think about my interactions with the world in a new way and inspired me to pursue a life studying media effects. I love being the person who introduces these ideas to undergraduate students.

My love of research was fostered in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I received my Ph.D. in 2011 with a minor in Political Communication. I moved to the DC area to serve as a Post-Doctoral Research Instructor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University from 2011-2012, working with Dr. Robert Entman and Dr. Kimberley Gross to examine how the media and the polls framed the 2009-2010 debate over health care reform. I then made the short journey across the Potomac to accept a position at George Mason University. I was a faculty member in the Department of Communication at GMU from 2012-2019, where I served as the Director for the interdisciplinary Political Communication Minor, and the Political Communication Concentration in the department. I was also affiliated with the Center for Climate Change Communication.

Outside of academia, I love spending time with my family, baking (especially cookies!), reading novels, and being active outside as much as possible (except during the winter, I’m not a fan of the cold!). I also love to travel and have a long wish-list of places to visit.

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