The University of Florida has named 12 UF faculty members as Trust Consortium Scholars and funded two post-doctoral associate positions as part of the University’s Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology initiative.
The scholars include faculty from four UF colleges studying the issues of trust from multiple perspectives. Projects include examinations of the effects of artificial intelligence on the creation of “deep fakes” and data infrastructure, to strategies on improving digital literacy and organizational communication. Trust Consortium Scholars will serve 18-month terms beginning in January 2020.
The Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology is a transdisciplinary initiative that will study how media and technology can become more trustworthy and develop and test innovative methods for improving society’s confidence in the fourth estate.
Throughout their appointment, each trust scholar will work on three to five pieces of public scholarship designed for non-academic audiences, and engage with trust scholars at UF and other institutions on collaborative, multidisciplinary research projects. Scholars will receive a $5,000 stipend or research fund for their work with the Consortium.
UF Trust Consortium Scholars
Emily Rine Butler
Senior Lecturer-Dial Center for Written & Oral Communication Department of Linguistics (Affiliated Faculty)
Roxane Coche, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Sports Journalism and Communication Assistant Professor – Department of Telecommunication
Jay Hmielowski, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor – Department of Public Relations
Myiah Hutchens, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor – Department of Public Relations
Benjamin Johnson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor – Department of Advertising
Angela Kohnen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, School of Teaching and Learning
Norm Lewis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor – Department of Journalism James M. Cox, Jr. Foundation/The Palm Beach Post Professorship in New Media
Jamie Loizzo, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor – Department of Agricultural Education and Communication
Jasmine McNealy, Ph.D.
Associate Professor – Department of Telecommunication
Rita Linjuan Men, Ph.D., APR
Associate Professor – Department of Public Relations
Jieun Shin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor – Department of Telecommunication
Frank Waddell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor – Department of Journalism
Post-doctoral associate funding was awarded to Dr. Duncan Purves, assistant professor of Philosophy in the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), to support his project on “Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Policing: An Ethical Analysis.” Drs. Jason von Meding, associate professor in the M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management, and Colin Tucker Smith, assistant professor in the CLAS Department of Psychology, were awarded funding for a post-doctoral associate to collaborate in their emerging research bringing together
About the Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology
The Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology was launched in October 2018 by the University of Florida. Its mission is to foster a diverse community of scholars and thought leaders who will a) build an unparalleled ecosystem for the study of how media and technology can become more trustworthy, and b) develop programs for the application of new knowledge and tools and the creation of new policy and law. The College of Journalism and Communications leads the initiative, and it works in partnership with UF’s Wertheim College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Informatics Institute, and George Smathers Libraries.
