News

MESA student Campbell Clark was featured in OSU Global magazine for his summer 2023 internship in Belgrade, Serbia, made possible by the Don and Cathey Humphreys Travel Grant. As part of his internship with the Balkan Security Network, Clark conducted media analysis of Russian disinformation, while immersing himself in the local culture and language. The Humphreys Travel Grant provides OSU students with unique opportunities for long-term, transformative global learning experiences that go beyond traditional study abroad programs. Read the full story here.

Dr. Skye Cooley has accepted the inaugural position of CAS Research Faculty Fellow for Strategic Transdisciplinary Initiatives. In this role, Dr. Cooley will work with the Dean's Office to facilitate and promote interdisciplinary research, provide guidance and resources for faculty, and contribute to the college's strategic vision for boundary-crossing research initiatives.

Dr. Skye Cooley delivered the keynote address at the Great Plains Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) on February 24, 2024. The event, hosted by the National Science Teaching Association and Oklahoma State University Honors College, brought together high school students from across the Great Plains region to present original STEM research projects. The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium is a prestigious national program funded by the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force. It aims to prepare and encourage high school students to pursue careers in STEM fields.

The MESA Group publishes a report that examines perspectives on evolving nuclear challenges and deterrence approaches. This project analyzes discourse across media, experts, and social platforms in major nuclear-armed nations. Using computational analysis and qualitative coding, it compiles insights from news articles, arms control blogs, and Twitter commentary over the past decade. See the full report for more details. Cover image by George Hodan.

MESA graduate student Campbell Clark completes his summer internship with the Balkan Security Network in Serbia. During his internship, Campbell analyzed media data and wrote articles for the Nova RS News Station. Read more about his experiences here.

MESA student Campbell Clark attends the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Research Conference in Washington, D.C. The theme of NIJ’s Research Conference is “evidence to action,” and the goal is to bring researchers and practitioners together to learn about the latest research evidence and how it can be implemented to promote safety, equity, and justice.

A new article titled "Hybrid regimes and narrative legitimacy during economic crises: Resiliency narratives of Egypt’s economic crisis" was published in the Global Media and Communication journal. This study advances a theory of resiliency narratives to hybrid regimes by proposing a continuum mapping a democratic, hybrid and modern authoritarian narrative structure based on its directionality and informational content during economic crises. Using Egypt’s 2016 economic crisis as a case study, we examine Egyptian and Russian native language media reporting. The results show that Egyptian media provide coherent narratives of economic resiliency devoid of ideological messaging, with attribution of blame placed on domestic causes more than international, providing support to the hybrid regimes’ differentiated narrative structures. For the full text of the article, click here.

Image: Mahmoud Elkhwas/NurPhoto/picture alliance

The MESA Group published an article titled "The Effects of the Culturally Tailored Narratives on COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Among Hispanics: A Randomized Online Experiment." Guided by the health belief model (HBM), cultural sensitivity approach, and the theory of situated cognition, this study compares the effects of culturally tailored narratives and generic narratives on the COVID-19 vaccine confidence among Hispanics. It also examines an array of cognitive responses (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and perceived side effects) associated with the COVID-19 vaccine confidence, and the interaction of these cognitive responses with the two narrative types of messaging.

The SMA Conference explores the ways the US and partners together can build enduring advantages through persistent, integrated campaigning across various domains. In execution, this is a huge intellectual and bureaucratic lift but a necessary imperative if we are to create favorable and sustainable outcomes while addressing the challenges of the Decisive Decade and beyond.