Degrees:
M.A., Emerging Media Studies, Boston University
Teaching experience:
COM 102: Public Speaking in the Digital Age (Instructor-of-record)
COM 210: Multimedia Content Creation (Instructor-of-record)
COM 471: Stereotypes in Communication (TA)
COMSTRAT 310: Digital Content Promotion (TA)
Research interests:
Media psychophysiology
Digital media
Health and science communication
Human-computer communication
Virtual reality and games
Conference presentations:
McKinnon-Crowley, J., & Mu, D. (2023, August). Does eye contact matter: Emotional responses to candidate’s direct and indirect address in political advertisements [Paper presentation]. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference (Advertising Division), Washington, D.C., USA.
Mu, D., Lee, Y. I., Churchill, A., Russell, L., Kiper, A., Nguyen, L., & Bolls, P. D. (2022, September). Uplifting stories: Embodied processing and responses to elevation eliciting video content [Poster presentation]. Society for Psychophysiological Research conference, Vancouver, Canada.
Sukalla, F., Mu, D., McKinnon-Crowley, J., & Bolls, P. D. (2022, July). Emotion regulation and the processing of emotionally extreme political messages [Paper presentation]. International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE) conference, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Villarreal, J. A., Mu, D., Bolls, P. D., Jerin, S. I., & Khan, T. A. (2022, May). Scare me, thrill me! The role of motivation activation and emotional responses in enjoyment of horror video games [Paper presentation]. International Communication Association (ICA) conference (Information Systems Division), Paris, France.
Awards:
2023 First Place Student Paper Award, Advertising Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
2023 Page Legacy Scholar, Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication
2023 Outstanding Research Assistant Award, The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University
2022 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University
2018 Best Poster Award, College of Communication, Boston University
Bio:
Di Mu is a doctoral candidate at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, with a minor in Statistics, at Washington State University. She specializes in using Media Psychophysiology to investigate media processes and effects. She has helped establish media psychophysiology labs at Murrow College and the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University. Mu’s research agenda focuses on advancing knowledge of cognitive and emotional processes that underlie the effects of interacting with content delivered over media technology platforms, including VR. She is especially interested in applying this research to promote health and wellness.
Mu is the graduate student manager of the Murrow Media Mind Lab and assists with training researchers in the lab. She is a member of research teams that conduct experiments on emotional responses to political content, entertainment, and health communication. She is also advancing both research and application of media psychophysiology in the VR lab. Mu is a co-investigator on a Page Center funded grant. This grant supports research investigating how to promote prosocial communication on mental wellness. She is also a research assistant on a large external grant focused on how to effectively vaccine science to rural communities.
Mu has presented her work at the annual conferences of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, the International Communication Association, and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. Her research has been recognized with a top student paper award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Mu also enjoys teaching. She taught Multimedia Content Creation several times in different formats, as well as Introduction to Public Speaking. She has also delivered guest lectures and assisted with grading in a graduate level media psychophysiology course, Digital Content Promotion, and Stereotypes in Communication.
Before pursuing graduate education, Mu worked as reporter and editor at a news outlet, and developed web design and development skills.