Principal Investigators:
Itzhak Yanovitzky (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) is an expert in the areas of strategic health communication (persuasion, social marketing, and campaigns), behavior change, and program
evaluation. Much of Professor Yanovitzky’s current research work is focused on enhancing the capacity of individuals and communities to acquire and use the information, tools, and resources they need to initiate, implement and support sustainable change (whether individual or social). He has over 20 years of experience working with individual and institutional clients in the public health sector to develop, promote, and evaluate strategic communication programs.
Matthew Weber is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication and Information. He received his PhD in 2010 from the Annenberg School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Southern California. Previously, Matthew was a postdoctoral research at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and a visiting scholar at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Matthew’s research examines organizational change in relation to the use of new information communication technologies. He examines organizations from both an internal and external perspective, focusing on the interaction between macro- and micro-level changes. He has studied organizations in a variety of contexts, including an examination of transformation of the news media industry in the United States, an analysis of local newspaper ecosystems, research on technology use in large multinational organizations, and work on social movements.
Research Assistants:
Teis Moeller Kristensen is a PhD student in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University. Teis’ research area is in the intersection of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship processes. He utilizes interviews, observations and social network analysis to examine the interactions and relations between employees within and across organizations.
Nicole Gesualdo is a part-time PhD student in communication who is interested in the role the news media play in the policymaking process, specifically regarding public health issues. Originally trained as
a journalist, she moved on to a career in marketing and communications in the higher-education field and now holds a full-time position as senior director of strategy for the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University. Her outside interests include long-range weekend travel, exploring familiar and unfamiliar cities, and milk chocolate chips.