Stay Updated on Our Recent Progress
June 12, 2026 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Media MOSAIC Lab member
Ismaharif Ismail‘s recent article discussing an RI‐CLPM analysis of risk appraisals and long‐term psychological well‐being has just been officially published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being.
If you want to find out more, visit our publication tab or visit: 10.1111/aphw.70173
June 8, 2026 – ICA 2026: Paper Presentation #3
Media MOSAIC Lab members Ying Qi Pan and Ismaharif Ismail will present at the International Communication Association (ICA) 2026! They examine whether media frames of advantage vs disadvantage matter for gender inequality.
If you are at ICA, please come to their presentation (see the image below for more information):
Title: Advantage and Disadvantage Media Framing Matter: Effects on Gender Ingroup Identification and Support for Gender Equality
Where: Room 2.61-2.63 (CTICC1, Level 2)
When: June 8, 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM
June 5, 2026 – ICA 2026: Paper Presentation #2
Media MOSAIC Lab members Ying Qi Pan and Stephanie Herrera (plus fellow UCSB Grad Yifei Wang) will present at the International Communication Association (ICA) 2026! They examined how AI-related threats are depicted in the media.
If you are at ICA, please come to their presentation (see the image below for more information):
Title: “AI” as “Artificial Immigrants”? A Content Analysis of Media Framing of AI Threats
Where: Room 1.41 (CTICC1, L1)
When: June 5, 1:30 PM – 2:45 PM
June 5, 2026 – ICA 2026: Paper Presentation #1
Media MOSAIC Lab member Ismaharif Ismail is on a co-led project with fellow UCSB Grad, Qiyao Peng, at the International Communication Association (ICA) 2026! They tested whether mixed emotions in headlines uniquely drive media engagement.
If you are at ICA, please come to their presentation (see the image below for more information):
Title: Specific Mixed Emotional Headlines Drive Online Media Engagement Over and Above Positivity and Negativity
Where: Bluebell (CTICC2, L3)
When: June 5, 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM
June 5, 2026 – Big Congrats to Harif!
Big congratulations to our lab member, Ismaharif Ismail, on receiving the UC Santa Barbara Communication Department Putnam Interdisciplinary Scholar Award!
The award recognizes a graduate student who has demonstrated active involvement in interdisciplinary research activities. These activities include: publishing in journals/books outside the field, collaborating in cross-disciplinary research projects, serving on multi-disciplinary grants, presenting at professional conferences outside communication, engaging with interdisciplinary centers and institutes, earning interdisciplinary certificates, and/or crossing research areas across the Department.
May 27, 2026 – HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Sovannie Len!!!!!!
We’re thrilled to share that our incredible lab member, Sovannie Len, successfully defended her dissertation, “Reconceptualizing Racial Diversity in Entertainment Media Using an Audience-Centered Approach for Media Evaluations and Behaviors.”
We’re so proud of you Dr. Sovannie Len!!!!!
Her committee members were Muniba Saleem, Ron Rice, and Jiaying Liu.
May 15, 2026 – Comm Horizons @ UC Davis 2026
The Media MOSAIC Lab will be at UC Davis for COMM Horizons 2026! We have two posters being presented this year from lab members, UCSB COMM graduate students, and collaborators. See the following:
Ying Qi Pan, Stephanie Herrera, Yifei Wang
AI as Artificial Immigrants? A content analysis of the U.S. news media framing of ai threats
Ying Qi has requested not to include the abstract for this conference because her paper is under review
Enoch Montes, Angela Y. Lee, Lisa Rhee, Jeffrey T. Hancock, Julian Unkel, Muniba Saleem, Joseph B. Bayer
Mindsets and Social Media Behavior
For more information on where to find the presentations at COMM Horizons 2026, see the link below:
When: Poster Session A: May 15, 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Location: Student Community Center; Multipurpose Room
May 8, 2026 – UCSB PRIEC Conference Presntation #2
Media MOSAIC Lab member Stephanie Herrera project with UCSB Communication Faculty Guadalupe (Lupita) Madrigal on how much race matters and the impact of news media on attitudes about migrants was presdented at the Politics of Race, Immigration, and Ethnicity Consortium (PRIEC) at UCSB!
May 8, 2026 – UCSB PRIEC Conference Presentation #1
Media MOSAIC PI Muniba Saleem and Lab member Ismaharif Ismail presented at the Politics of Race, Immigration, and Ethnicity Consortium (PRIEC) on how media representations shape intergroup relations and migration!
April 7, 2026 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Media MOSAIC Lab member
Yingqi Pan‘s recent article on understanding social media use, political participation, and gender dynamics has just been officially published in Mass Communication & Society!
If you want to find out more, visit our publication tab or visit: 10.1080/15205436.2026.2650668
April 4, 2026 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Media MOSAIC Lab member
Sovannie Len‘s recent mixed-methods piece has just been officially published in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media!
This article was completely graduate student-led and was co-authored with fellow UCSB graduate student Steven Kubitza!
If you want to find out more, visit our publication tab or visit: 10.1080/08838151.2026.2654865
March 26, 2026 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Media MOSAIC PI Muniba Saleem‘s recent article with Stephanie Torres-Pantoja, Julian Unkel, Lisa Rhee, and Joe Bayer on what counts as “social media” has just been published in Psychology of Popular Media!
We find major disagreement across platforms and age groups, with implications for how people perceive its effects and role in society.
If you want to find out more, visit our publication tab or visit: 10.1037/ppm0000656
March 14, 2026 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Media MOSAIC Lab member
Ismaharif Ismail‘s paper on goal communication is finally out in Motivation & Emotion!
For more info:
Visit our publication tab or visit: 10.1007/s11031-026-10210-z
Excerpt from Harif on the article above:
We often talk about our goals with our family, friends or colleagues. We tell them what we’ve been up to, celebrate successes or vent about frustrations.
Our team showed that goal sharing isn’t just “venting” and is driven by specific self-regulatory motives with a hierarchical structure. We developed and validated a 27-item scale to measure these motives across contexts and cultures.
We found that these motives are functional and shape communication to help goal progress and achievement. Talking about your goals with others isn’t just expression—it strategically can help you regulate your goal pursuits (e.g., New Year resolutions; staying fit; getting an A in class)
March 13, 2026 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Media MOSAIC Lab member
Sovannie Len‘s latest mixed-methods article has been officially published in Communication and Race!
This article was completely graduate student-led and was co-authored with fellow UCSB grad Kyungin Kim!
If you want to find out more, visit our publication tab or visit: 10.1080/28346955.2026.2637482
March 5, 2026 – Congrats on the UCSB OISS scholarship Harif!!
Huge congratulations to Media MOSAIC lab member Ismaharif Ismail, who has received UCSB OISS funding through the African & Asian Students in STEM Scholarship to support fieldwork leading the Singapore team in a 23+ country Global Social Media Experiment. The Registered Report has in-principle acceptance at Nature!
February 28, 2026 – Symposia Presentation at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)
Media MOSAIC Lab member Ismaharif Ismail will be presenting at the Society for Social and Personality Psychology (SPSP) 2026 conference!
<– For more information on this presentation, see the poster here!
Or visit our lab Bluesky account for more information!
February 18, 2026 – ISRA Speaker Series 2026
Lab PI, Muniba Saleem, was recently an invited speaker at the International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA). Her talk focused on “How Media Representations Foster Majority Hostility and Minority Exclusion in Multicultural Societies.”
You can see a recording of her presentation at the link below:
February 17, 2026 – SPSP Spotlighting Scholars Who Leverage Science to Inform Evidence-Based Policy
Muniba‘s research on media, race, and identity has directly informed policy at federal, platform, and nonprofit levels.
This research has recently been covered in the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) February Newsletter!
See the coverage of the article here:
https://spsp.org/news/newsletter-articles/scholars-leveraging-science-to-inform-evidence-based-policy-part-2
November 26, 2025 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Media MOSAIC Lab member
Ismaharif Ismail‘s paper on psychological well-being and self-control is now out in Social Psychological and Personality Science!
For more info:
Visit our publication tab or visit: 10.1177/19485506251385007
November 22, 2025 – NCA 2025 Lab Schedule (Saturday)
The Media MOSAIC Lab will be presenting at the 2025 National Communication Association conference!
<– See our lab schedule for THURSDAY, November 20, 2025, here!
Or visit our lab Bluesky account for more information!
November 21, 2025 – NCA 2025 Lab Schedule (Friday)
The Media MOSAIC Lab will be presenting at the 2025 National Communication Association conference!
See our lab schedule for THURSDAY, November 20, 2025, here! –>
Or visit our lab Bluesky account for more information!
November 20, 2025 – NCA 2025 Lab Schedule (Thursday)
The Media MOSAIC Lab will be presenting at the 2025 National Communication Association conference!
<– See our lab schedule for THURSDAY, November 20, 2025, here!
Or visit our lab Bluesky account for more information!
November 3, 2025 – SPSP News Coverage: Representation in Media Can Deepen or Undo Prejudice
Lab PI Muniba Saleem‘s meta-analysis of 60 studies, which was published in Media Psychology, was covered in the news section of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP).
See the coverage of the article here:
https://spsp.org/news/character-and-context-blog/saleem-representation-in-media-can-deepen-or-undo-prejudice
Or check out the full article at: 10.1080/15213269.2025.2498374
October 27, 2025 – Media MOSAIC Lab Hosts: Conferences & Connections!
Interested in hearing real experiences and tips from fellow grad students and junior faculty on building meaningful academic connections at conferences?
If so, come join us at our Conferences & Connections event on Monday, October 27, 2025, from 10 am to 11:30 am in SSMS 1009!
This event is open to all graduate students in the Department of Communication at UCSB!
September 29, 2025 – MAJOR CONGRATULATIONS TO HARIF!!!
Huge congratulations to Media MOSAIC lab member Ismaharif Ismail for receiving the prestigious National University of Singapore Overseas Graduate Scholarship (NUS-OGS)!
The NUS-OGS is awarded to outstanding Singaporeans to nurture them for a career in academia by supporting their doctoral studies abroad. He will receive funding support for the remaining duration of his PhD and fellowship with NUS to pursue his research program to understand and bridge social divisions through the multidimensional perspective of social identity. After completing his doctoral training, he will join NUS Department of Communication and New Media as a faculty member.
Ismaharif was also awarded the NUS Development Grant / NUS Young Fellow Award which provides research funding to pursue his research ideas in developing digital media platforms in Singapore to foster social cohesion. The award is renewable annually for up to three years.
August 27, 2025 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Congrats to lab member
Ismaharif Ismail on having 4 posters accepted at the 2025 Association for Psychological Science (APS) Global Psychological Science Summit!
He’ll present on the cross-domain (media, interpersonal, group) effects of identity threats, alongside posters presented by his mentored students.
The 2025 APS Global Psychological Science Summit is taking place virtually October 21-23, 2025!
For more information and the presentation abstracts, visit the Bluesky thread here.
August 27, 2025 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Media MOSAIC Lab member
Erick Garcia‘s latest mixed-methods article has been officially published in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction.
This article was completely graduate student-led and was co-authored with fellow UCSB grads, Hannah Overbye-Thompson, Xinyi Zhang, and Laurent Wang.
The article poses the question…Do people see algorithmic bias as a risk—and do they feel capable of addressing it? The answer… it depends!
If you want to find out more, visit our publication tab or visit: 10.1080/10447318.2025.2546661
June 15, 2025 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Media MOSAIC Lab member
Sovannie Len‘s latest article has been officially published in the Annals of the International Communication Association.
Her essay considers the interpersonal dynamics between parental guidance and children’s observational learning from entertainment media. It also proposes strategies for enhancing intergroup socialization and how families can adapt these strategies to fit their unique needs.
For more information, visit our publication tab, see the graphic, or visit: 10.1093/anncom/wlaf019
June 15, 2025 – Top Paper Award in the Intergroup Communication division at ICA 2025!
Huge congratulations to Muniba Saleem (PI) and lab member Ismaharif Ismail for receiving a Top Paper Award in the Intergroup Communication division at ICA 2025!
We’re so proud of your well-deserved recognition and the amazing work presented at this year’s ICA!
June 12-16, 2025 – ICA 2025! Lab squad on the move to Denver! ✈️
The Media MOSAIC lab is heading to the International Communication Association (ICA) 2025 conference
later this week!
We are excited to share all the amazing work that our lab has submitted to ICA 2025!
For more information, see our lab schedule to note where you can find the lab at ICA 2025!
June 6, 2025 – Congrats Sovannie!!
Big congratulations to our lab member, Sovannie Len, on receiving the inaugural UC Santa Barbara Communication Department Dissertation Award for Social Impact!
The award recognizes outstanding dissertation research proposals in communication with a clear application for societal impact.
June 3, 2025 – CONGRATULATIONS, Dr. Nancy Molina-Rogers!
We’re thrilled to share that our incredible lab member, Nancy Molina-Rogers, successfully defended her dissertation, “I Believe I Can, So We Did: A Test of Social Media Efficacy and Activism Among Advantaged and Disadvantaged Groups”!
Her committee members were Muniba Saleem, Dana Mastro, and Amy Gonzales.
Huge congratulations to Dr. Nancy Molina-Rogers!!!
May 14, 2025 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
The latest research from our lab has just been published in Human Communication Research!
PI Muniba Saleem and lab member Ismaharif Ismail explored whether media shapes identity or whether identity influences media use.
Read the full manuscript here: https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqaf011
April 3, 2025 – NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!
Media MOSAIC Lab member
Ismaharif Ismail‘s latest article has been officially published in Political Psychology.
For more info:
Visit our publication tab or visit: 10.1111/pops.70018
February 21, 2025 – Poster at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), Psychology of Media & Technology Preconference 2025!
We can’t forget a good old poster session at SPSP 2025!
Come visit lab member Erick Garcia at the Psychology of Media & Technology pre-conference poster session on Thurs, Feb. 20th from 2:45 PM – 3:45 PM [Exhibit D, Exhibit Level] to learn more about online hate speech interventions.
See the research abstract for more details!
February 21, 2025 – Research talk at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) 2025!
Our PI Muniba Saleem
will also be giving a research talk titled “Interpersonal and Media-Based Identity Threats: Coping Strategies and Resilience
Among Muslim Americans,” at the symposium on Navigating Identity and Resilience.
If you are interested in more information on the talk, see the abstract poster.
February 21, 2025 – Symposium at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) 2025!
Are you going to be at SPSP 2025?
Join us from 1:45 PM – 2:55 PM at the Colorado Convention Center [Bluebird Ballroom 2H, Terrace Level] for Muniba Saleem‘s symposium on Navigating Identity and Resilience.
For more information on the symposia, see the abstract poster.
January 15, 2025 – Another Media MOSAIC Lab paper accepted at the International Communication Association (ICA) 2025!
More great news! The lab is thrilled to share that another paper was accepted at ICA 2025!
This paper was a collaborative effort among incredible scholars, specifically Desiree Schmuck, Magdalena Obermaier and Media MOSAIC Lab’s own Nancy Molina-Rogers and Muniba Saleem!
For more information on their paper, see the abstract attached.
January 15, 2025 – Media MOSAIC Lab paper accepted at the International Communication Association (ICA) 2025!
Exciting news! Congrats to our PI Muniba Saleem and lab member Ismaharif Ismail on their recent paper acceptance for ICA 2025!
It’s thrilling to know that our labs’ innovative research will be presented at this year’s conference. For more information on their paper, see the abstract attached.
November 23, 2024 – NCA 2024 Presentation!
Congratulations to our lab member Nancy Molina-Rogers on her wonderful presentation at the National Communication Association (NCA) Conference 2024!
Title: Through the Internet, We Can: Latino Social Media Efficacy during the 2020 Presidential Election
Division: Mass Communication [Politics and Mass Communication]
Contact her if you want to learn more about Latino social media efficacy, or visit here for more information!
November 22, 2024 – Top Student Paper Award at NCA 2024!
Congratulations to our lab member Sovannie Len on her top student paper award (and presentation) in Family Communication at the National Communication Association (NCA) Conference 2024!
Title: Diverse Entertainment Media for Ethnic-Racial Socialization: An Initial Guide for Families
Division: Family Communication
Contact her if you want to learn more about diverse entertainment media for socialization, or visit here for more information!
October 30, 2024 – Media MOSAIC Lab Sponsored Talk!
Media MOSAIC Lab member Nancy Molina-Rogers will be hosting a talk on Identity & Activism on Social Media.
Join us on October 30th, 2024 from 12pm – 1:30 pm in SSMS 1009 at UC Santa Barbara for this wonderful talk!
October 27, 2024 – The Media MOSAIC Lab website is now live!
We are super excited to announce the launch of our lab’s website! Make sure to bookmark this site on your browser to stay up-to-date with everything related to the Media MOSAIC Lab & its members!
October 5, 2023 – The Media MOSAIC Lab held its first meeting on this day!
On this day, the Media MOSAIC lab was founded in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
