Alumni

Andrea Hackl received her Ph.D. from American University’s School of Communication in 2016. Her research interests stand at the intersection of Internet governance and LGBT rights. Her dissertation examined the repression of LGBT speech and identity expression in the digital public sphere. Together with Prof. DeNardis, Andrea co-authored the article “Internet governance by social media platforms,” published in the journal Telecommunications Policy. Previously, Andrea has also served as a research fellow with the LGBT Technology Partnership & Institute where she wrote a White paper on the technology needs of homeless LGBT youth. The paper has helped the organization develop a program that provides homeless LGBT youth with free cell phones. In her free time, Andrea enjoys live music, reading and traveling.

Luis Hestres received his B.A. in Communication from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in San Juan, Puerto Rico, an M.F.A. in Film and Electronic Media from American University in Washington, DC, and an M.A. from Georgetown University’s Communication, Culture & Technology program. He earned his Ph.D. from the School of Communication at American University, where he wrote his dissertation on Internet-mediated climate change advocacy. Dr. Hestres uses quantitative and qualitative methods to study the intersections of digital communication technologies, political communication and mobilization, Internet freedom and governance, and social change. His recent research has explored how different types of advocacy organizations use the Internet to communicate with their supporters and mobilize them; how the policies and technical features that companies like Facebook and Twitter implement affect freedom of expression online and the work of advocacy organizations; the different ways that advocacy organizations communicate with their supporters online about climate change; and the emerging ethics of online political strategists.

Ms. Carolyn Just was a Research Associate with the Internet Governance Lab. She was a graduate student at American University's School of International Service studying global ethics and emerging technologies. Her interests included cyber security threats and solutions, implications of social media regulation, and global advancement of artificial intelligence. She recently worked in public relations and digital advertising at The Glover Park Group.

Tijana Milosevic is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oslo focusing on implications of increasing privatization of digital public sphere for freedom of expression, privacy and culture, especially in the context of youth. She examines these issues in her upcoming book for The MIT Press Information Society Series: “Cyberbullying Policies of Social Media Companies” where she asks critical questions about what it takes to pave the way to more dignified relationships among youth but also in society in general. Tijana is a member of The EU Kids Online —a network of more than 150 researchers studying youth and digital media in 33 European countries. Tijana completed her doctoral dissertation at American University’s School of Communication where she also did research on chilling effects of copyright in the visual arts community and on media coverage of climate change. Previously, she examined media coverage of US involvement in the Middle East and US public diplomacy. She holds an MA in Media and Public Affairs from The George Washington University (GWU) and has a passion for journalism‑ writing and documentary filmmaking. Tijana graduated from GWU’s Documentary Filmmaking Institute and worked at BBC, Radio Free Europe and Columbia Missourian. She blogs on the Huffington Post You can find more information at www.tijanamilosevic.org & Twitter @TiMilosevic.

Tatevik Sargsyan received her Ph.D. from American University’s School of Communication in 2016. Her primary research interests revolve around the role of information intermediaries in the global context of free speech and privacy governance. Tatevik’s dissertation explored how information intermediaries’ privacy infrastructure evolves in collaboration with and in response to pressure from public interest groups and regulators in the United States and the European Union. Tatevik’s recent publications include “Data Localization and the Role of Infrastructure for Surveillance, Privacy and Security,” in the International Journal of communication and “The Turn to Infrastructure in Privacy Governance,” in a volume on Internet governance edited by Prof. DeNardis, Derrick L. Cogburn, and others. Previously, Tatevik served as a Google Policy Fellow at the Global Network Initiative and taught a number of courses on the social impact of information and communication technologies. In 2015, she was awarded a grant by American University to develop and teach a course on digital media and culture. As an Annenberg-Oxford Summer Institute alumna Tatevik also writes blogs on Internet policy issues for the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School of Communication.

Isabelle Zaugg’s research focuses on language, culture, and representation in the digital age. Her dissertation, titled “Digitizing Ethiopic: Coding for Linguistic Continuity in the Face of Digital Extinction” investigated the relationship between digital communication technologies and rapid declines in language diversity worldwide by focusing on the case study of the Ethiopic script. Her research sheds light on the wide-reaching implications for the public good of digital design and standards governance, and their impact on global language diversity. Zaugg received a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship to pursue her fieldwork in Ethiopia from 2016-2017. Zaugg has an MA in Film & Video from American University and a BA in Art Semiotics from Brown University. She received a Fulbright Student Fellowship to teach digital filmmaking courses in Addis Ababa from 2012-2013. She wrote and directed the narrative short The Strong Force (2016), the documentary short BF Superstars (2012), and the long-form documentary At Home in the Valley (2006). Zaugg attended and presented her dissertation research at the Annenberg-Oxford International Media Policy Summer Institute in 2015. She studied at Addis Ababa University from 2004-2005 in the Brown in Ethiopia program. She is also an alumnus of United World College of the Adriatic. In August 2017 she will begin a Mellon-Sawyer Seminar Postdoctoral Fellow in “Global Language Justice” at the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University.