The money from the grad prize allowed me to present at two different conferences. One was right here in Boston so I was able to attend just the day of the conference. At the Eastern Communication Association Conference in Boston, I presented work that I’d done with Dr. Oppliger as a research assistant here. We’d been analyzing a TV show for its portrayals of transgender characters and foster kids. She allowed me to present the work, which was an incredible opportunity to see and participate in my first academic conference. After the presentation, I was able to get feedback that we’re now incorporating into the article we’re working on.
I also got to attend the International Communication Association conference in San Diego this year. I had submitted an extended abstract about my thesis, which looked at social media and selective exposure’s effect on political polarization. I worked on the thesis throughout the year and I presented a selection of the research at ICA. The grad prize allowed me to attend the conference and spend five days in California with several of the COM doctoral students and professors. My advisor Dr. Cummings had helped me shape the experiment and was a huge source of support throughout the whole process, but it was an incredible opportunity to present my own work, especially as a master’s student. I presented in an interactive poster session so I had a short presentation and then was able to talk with people one-on-one about my work. I received a lot of positive feedback about and interest in my work. People also had valuable suggestions about how to improve the experiment in the future.
ICA was also a really great opportunity to learn more about the work being done now in political communication and other areas of com. Since so many of the BU people attending supported me and came to my presentation, I wanted to do the same and support my classmates. I saw presentations by most of the BU students and faculty who attended. Through the variety of sessions I attended and the work presented, I got a lot of great ideas for theories I want to study and different methods and factors I can incorporate into my research.
Plus, I’m starting a doctoral program in the fall at Michigan State University and I was able to meet up with my future advisor there as well as several of the current doctoral students. My MSU advisor even came to my presentation. Most of the MSU people I’d only met once over a visit weekend. Seeing them at the conference allowed me to connect with them again, which will hopefully make the transition easier. I got to see the work my new advisor was working on and became excited all over again about the projects I’ll get to work on when I’m in Michigan.
I saw and heard presentations by so many of the researchers whose work I admire. I attended sessions where several different people who I cited in my thesis were presenting and I got to see new ways to connect my different research interests.
The conference was impressive in the amount people attending and research presented there. The sheer size though allowed me to bond more with people from BU who I hadn’t gotten to know as well as a student. Now, we have plans to visit each other at future conferences and to be each other’s support systems at the networking events.
All in all, it was an amazing opportunity to have such a tangible and public end to my thesis, which I couldn’t have had without BU’s support.