about me

I’m a husband, a father and an assistant professor in Boulder, Colorado. I also spend a little time running and playing music.

I teach analytics and performs computational social science research in mass communication. Currently, I teach analytics to CU Boulder strategic communication undergrads and teach graduate students advanced analytics in the marketing specialization of Leeds Marketing Analytics MS program.

I’m also an academic researcher. I use the following computer science methods to investigate social media data: data mining, machine learning, computer-assisted content analysis, data scraping, APIs, investigative statistics, prescriptive and predictive analytics, data forecasting, network analysis, Python, information retrieval and computer automation.

My background includes real-world public relations and digital marketing experience at three major companies. My tech focus stems from six years of part-time IT help desk support. 

Subject matter areas

  • Agenda setting theory
  • Programmatic advertising
  • Social media advertising
  • Paid search (Paid SEO)
  • Native advertising
  • Display advertising
  • Artificial intelligence

Methods

  • Data mining
  • Descriptive stats
  • Predictive stats (multiple regression, etc..)
  • Supervised machine learning (classification and prediction)
  • Unsupervised machine learning (clustering, topic models)
  • Network analysis (social and semantic)

Current Academic Appointments

Assistant Professor of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design

College of Media, Communication & Information, August 2016

University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Advertising, Public Relations & Design

Graduate Faculty, Leeds School of Business

University of Colorado at Boulder, August 2018

Editor-in-Chief

The Agenda Setting Journal, December 2018

CMCI Director of Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA)

College of Media, Communication & Information, Spring 2018
The University of Colorado at Boulder

Education

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Ph.D., Mass Communication, May 2014

Dissertation: Brand messages on Twitter: Predicting diffusion with textual characteristics

The University of Alabama

Master of Arts, Advertising & Public Relations, May 2011

Thesis: National television news & newspapers as media salience, Twitter as public salience:
An agenda-setting effects analysis

The Pennsylvania State University

Bachelor of Arts, Advertising & Public Relations, May 2008

Major: Public Relations
Minor: English