Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez (Journalism and Media Studies), with co-authors Elizabeth Terrazas-Carrillo, Ediza Garcia, Karen Morales, and Arianna Requejo (Texas A & M International University), recently published "La Tóxica: A Gender Role Stereotype for Latinas and Its Perceived Influence on Intimate Partner…

Stephen Bates (Journalism and Media Studies) recently published “The Strange Tale of Rincon Island,” recounting an artificial island built off the California coast for oil and gas exploration in the 1950s, before the state allowed offshore platforms. Operator Richfield Oil Corp. subsequently created an adjacent artificial reef to increase fish…

Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez (Journalism and Media Studies), with co-editors Kim Fox (American University in Cairo) and Aram Sinnreich (American University), recently guest edited a symposium on "The Turn to Podcasts as a Mass Campaign Medium" in The Journal of Radio and Audio Media. The set of research articles focuses on when podcasting’s…

Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez (Journalism and Media Studies), with co-authors Ariadne Gonzalez, Di Mu, Marcela Moran, and Cindy Salazar-Collier (all Texas A&M International University), earned the Top Paper Award in the Health Communication Interest Group at the 2026 Central States Communication Association. The paper was titled, "From Focus Groups…

Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez (Journalism and Media Studies) delivered an invited talk titled "Latino Shift: The Making and Remaking of the U.S. Latino Voter in the Trump Era" for the Center for Global Change and Media in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. Through an analysis of media coverage, election data, and…

Ashlee Frandell (Public Policy), Aya Shata (Journalism and Media Studies), and Drew Blasco (Public Health) were awarded the iRDA Sustainability in Arid Lands Funding grant to support research on local county governments' adoption of AI, focusing on challenges, resource limitations, and strategies to enable effective and responsible…

Aya Shata (Journalism and Media Studies) and Ashlee Frandell (Public Policy) were awarded the iRDA Creative Media, Entertainment, and Cultural Industries Funding Competition to support research examining public communications professionals’ trust in generative AI and its influence on communication practices in the government sector.

Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez (Journalism and Media Studies), earned a Top Paper Award (Runner-Up) in the Communication Theory and Research Interest Group at the 2026 Western States Communication Association. The paper was titled, "Etiological Myth in U.S. Right-Wing Politics." The paper advances an etiological approach to studying political rhetoric and…

Aya Shata (Journalism and Media Studies) and her interdisciplinary team won the UNLV President’s Interdisciplinary Research Challenge, receiving an equivalent of $20,000 of research development support. The project examines faculty AI competencies and develops an evidence-based, discipline-informed AI training program to support more…

Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez (Journalism and Media Studies), with co-author Andres Bernal (CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies), recently published "Like, subscribe, profit? Personal finance influencers on YouTube under neoliberalism" in Consumption Markets & Culture. In the article, the authors use natural language processing methods and…

Julian Kilker (Journalism and Media Studies) and Yvonne Houy (Fine Arts) presented at the University of Amsterdam’s December 2025 GenAI & Creative Practices: Past, Present, and Future conference, as part of that university’s innovative "Responsible Digital Transformations" initiative. The research panel focused on international partnerships to…

Julian Kilker (Journalism and Media Studies) was an invited presenter at the Desert Studies Institute’s Nov. 5 Curiosity Lab event “The Possible Unknown: Stories about Exploring the Unreachable.” In his Outdoor Night Lab presentation, he showed how the Nevada desert is an ideal environment for research and creative practice with demonstrations of…