The Hub at Clemson University

Jinan Allan

Jinan Allan is an assistant professor of psychology, whose research focuses on human decision-making and risk literacy (i.e., the ability to evaluate and understand risk information). Before coming to Clemson, she worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Science of Intelligence Cluster of Excellence in Berlin, Germany (2021-23). She received a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Oklahoma (2021), where she conducted research on the effects of human intelligence and statistical numeracy on risk literacy and decision-making skills. Her research uses behavioral science and psychometric techniques to develop metrics and models of human decision-making and risk communication, with applications to diverse domains, including extreme weather risk information (e.g., tornado and hurricane warnings). 

Brooke Bennett

Dr. Brooke Bennett is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the BEAM (Body image, Eating, Access, and Media) Lab at Clemson University. She earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology with a dual specialty in Health Psychology from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. The goal of Dr. Bennett’s research is to improve the health and well-being of individuals navigating the current sociocultural and environmental barriers to eating well and developing a positive body image. To advance this mission, she works to identify the ways in which digital technology negatively impacts the health of its users and determine how technology can be used instead to expand the reach of and enhance evidence-based care for all people. Another line of her research is focused on the impact of sociocultural factors on eating behaviors and body image in diverse and underserved populations in order to better understand how the application of digital interventions can be maximized to achieve health equity. .

Sayan Gupta

Sayan Gupta is an assistant professor of marketing, whose teaching interests focus on digital and social media marketing, marketing analytics, and brand management. His paper “Dousing a Social Media Firestorm: Understanding and Mitigating Polarization in the Aftermath of Brand Crises” was awarded Best Paper at the Digital and Social Media Marketing track at the 2022 Winter American Marketing Association conference. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Pittsburgh and holds a graduate degree in management from the Indian Institute of Management Indore and a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Technology in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

Leland Fecher

Leland has been a lecturer at Clemson University since 2012. From 2019 to 2022 he was the Director of Basic courses for the Communication Department. This allowed him to explore his passion for the basic Communication course and general education at the university. He is still active within Clemson's general education community. He is interested in ludology, the study of games. He has written several papers about communication and its effect in games, including a published article in Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture. Leland continues his work and connection with games as the faculty advisor of the Clemson eSports club since its inception in 2013.

Bumgi Min

Bumgi Min is a post-doctoral fellow in the Media Forensics Hub and the Department of Communication at Clemson University. He earned his Ph.D. degree in mass communications in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Pennsylvania State University in 2024 and his master’s degree in media studies at the University of Texas at Austin in 2015. His research investigates the strategies and consequences of disinformation distributed through social media and digital platforms and the threat that it poses to democracy from cross-national and international perspectives. He employs quantitative methods such as experimental survey and computational analytics to study these issues, and the resulting research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Political Communication, Policy & Internet, and Communication & Sport. His expertise has also been recognized by news media outlets such as BBC China.

Jinkyung Katie Park

Jinkyung Katie Park is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing. Sher research focuses on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) to promote the online safety of vulnerable populations. Before joining Clemson University, she was a postdoc at Vanderbilt University, working on multiple NSF-funded projects to promote adolescent online safety. She received a Ph.D. In Information Science at Rutgers University and her doctoral dissertation titled "A design intervention to reduce online incivility" was awarded a dissertation award (runner-up) from iSchool. In her work, she synergistically combines social science and computer science research to deeply understand societal challenges and identify ways to mediate such challenges using AI-based technology.

Dawn Sarno

Dawn Sarno received her PhD in Human Factors and Cognitive Psychology from the University of Central Florida and began teaching at Clemson University in July of 2020. Her research interests broadly center around applied visual cognition, aging, working memory, cybersecurity and training.

Camille Saucier

Camille Saucier is an assistant professor of communication whose research focuses on developing person-centered communication strategies to promote openness to accurate information and build resilience against misinformation. She is particularly interested in the motivations that lead people to engage with (in)accurate health content and the effects of media messages on information processing. Before coming to Clemson, she received her Ph.D. in Media, Technology, and Society from Northwestern University. She holds a B.A. in Psychology, an M.C.M. in Communication Management, and a Certificate in Sustainable Policy and Planning from the University of Southern California.

Hudson Smith

Hudson Smith is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistical Sciences at Clemson University. He develops techniques for incorporating prior knowledge into deep learning systems for data-constrained applications. He has a PhD in theoretical atomic Physics from Ohio State university. As a physicist, he learned the power of approaching problems from first principles. As a machine learning scientist, he has seen the power of flexible, data-driven models. This dual experience allows him to integrate the strengths of both approaches.

Yuanyuan (Gina) Cui

Yuanyuan (Gina) Cui's research focuses on the intersection of misinformation and consumer behavior, bringing a unique marketing perspective to the study of misinformation dissemination and engagement. Prior to joining Clemson University, she earned her Ph.D. in Marketing (2023) from Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. Her research primarily employs experimental methods to explore the causal mechanisms of human decision-making and psychology in the context of misinformation. She has published in journals including the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, and Tourism Management, among others. Her contributions to the field extend beyond her own research; she has served as a Guest Editor and member of Editorial Review Boards for multiple peer-reviewed journals. At the Media Forensics Hub, she applies her interdisciplinary background to develop innovative strategies for combating misinformation and promoting media literacy in our increasingly complex information landscape.

Ayse Lokmanoglu

Ayse D. Lokmanoglu is an Assistant Professor of Emerging Media Studies at the College of Communication at Boston University. Her scholarship takes a mixed methods approach that integrates computational methodologies and critical cultural theory to examine mainstreaming of supremacist ideology on the internet focused on race, gender, and religion. As a global, inferential, and multi-method critical computational social scientist, her work on social media and supremacist digital content integrates theory advancement, policy relevancy, and community activism. She completed her Ph.D. in Communication at Georgia State University, as a presidential fellow in Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative (TCV), M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University and B.A. in Near Eastern Studies and Economics at Cornell University. Previously she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Communication and Public Policy at Northwestern University, an Assistant Professor of Disinformation Studies at Clemson University, and one of the core faculty of John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s funded Media Forensics Hub.

Morgan Wack

Morgan Wack is a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Zurich’s Department of International and Comparative Media Research (CHE). Prior to joining the Hub, he received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Washington, an M.Sc. from LSE and a B.A. from Colorado College. His research is focused on the role of information technologies in the proliferation of mis- and disinformation. He has had articles published in the fields of political science, information sciences, and sociology and had his research covered by media outlets such as The Guardian and The Conversation. In addition to his academic work, he has assisted government agencies and NGOs in several countries on issues related to education and democratization.

Jayson Warren

Matt Chambers

Matt Chambers brings over a decade of experience in data visualization and analytics to the Media Forensics Hub. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Clemson in 2010 and a PhD in Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design from Clemson in 2022. Serving as a resource to the campus, he provides data visualization, analytics, and architecture solutions that help leadership find insights and make strategic decisions. His research interests center around measuring the persuasive effects of presenting data and information.

Akhil Chennamsetty

Akhil Chennamsetty has Bachelors in Computer Science from Gitam University and a Masters in Computer Science from Oklahoma State University. He has experience in both the academic and industry setting, including work on recommendation systems and predictive modeling. His research interests are software engineering, social media analysis, mobile applications, and machine learning.

Rose Ellen Davis-Gross brings over 20 years of experience in higher education to the Media Forensics Hub. Before coming to the Hub, she worked in University governance and University Housing. Rose Ellen has a degree in Marketing from Clemson and a Master of Mass Communication from the University of South Carolina.

Carl Ehrett

Carl Ehrett is the Director of Applied Machine Learnin, Research Computing and Data. He facilitates research activities applying artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, and works with students and faculty to foster interdisciplinary collaboration growing the AI and analytics community within Clemson. Carl received an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Kentucky with emphasis on cognitive science, a Ph.D. in analytic philosophy from Northwestern University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences from Clemson University.

Ella Murray

Ella Murray is a recent alumna of Clemson University, graduating Cum Laude in May of 2025 from the College of Behavioral, Social, and Health Sciences. She earned a B.A. in Communication and Psychology and participated in the Media Forensics Creative Inquiry, where she spent a semester researching AI-empowered personas, cryptocurrency accounts, and their influence on the 2024 Presidential Election.

Shubham Narale

Shubham Narale is a recent graduate of Clemson University, where he earned his M.S. in Computer Science. He is now a Systems Engineer at the Media Forensics Hub, where he develops large-scale social media analytics pipelines. His work integrates artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and cloud platforms such as AWS to detect influence operations, disinformation campaigns, and coordinated inauthentic behavior online. At the Hub, he has built scalable data-processing systems, designed canonicalization frameworks for multi-platform datasets, and developed user-facing tools for researchers to analyze suspicious networks. He is passionate about applying engineering and AI to strengthen information integrity and combat the challenges of digital manipulation at scale.

Gayatri Tatineni

Gayatri Tatineni is a recent graduate of Clemson University, where she earned her M.S. in Computer Science. Her work centers on artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and the detection of online misinformation, social media integrity. As a Knight Research Fellow at the Media Forensics Hub, she contributed to projects investigating political disinformation and synthetic activity on social media. She is passionate about building AI-driven tools that promote digital integrity and address real-world challenges in information trust.