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Edward R. Murrow College of Communication

Porismita Borah

  1. Professor
Email Addressp.borah@wsu.edu
LocationGoertzen Hall 224

Biography

Biography

Dr. Porismita Borah is part of the graduate faculty in the Murrow College and the Prevention Science program in WSU. Borah’s research focuses on the interplay of emerging technology, politics, and health. She primarily studies message effects in digital environments, both in the context of politics and health. Her work has been published in top journals such as Journal of Communication, Political Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, and New Media and Society. Borah’s research has received funding from various sources including National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Poynter Institute. She teaches courses in communication theory, research methods, public relations, and emerging technology. Since joining WSU, Borah has mentored more than 30 graduate students. Borah serves as associate editor and editorial board member in multiple journals. She also serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for more than 50 journals in communication and the social sciences. Before joining graduate school, Borah worked as a production executive in New Delhi Television (NDTV), in Delhi, India. Outside of academia, she loves photography, travel, music, the Internet, politics, animals, and cooking. To learn more about Borah’s work, please visit her website at http://porismitaborah.com

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison (Journalism and Mass Communications)
  • M.S., Iowa State University (Journalism and Mass Communications)

Classes Taught

  • COM 570 – Communication Theory (Graduate)
  • COM 552 – Emerging Technology in Communication (Graduate)
  • COM 564 – Quantitative Research Methods (Graduate)
  • COMHLTH 570 – Health Communication and Behavior Change (Graduate)
  • COM 562 – Crisis Communication (Graduate)
  • COMSTRAT 309 – Quantitative Research Methods (Undergraduate)
  • COMSTRAT 485 – PR Management and Campaign Design (Undergraduate)

Research Interests

  • Emerging Technology in the context of Politics and Health
  • News Framing
  • Political Communication
  • Health Communication

Selected Awards

  • Top Faculty Paper Award, Political Communication Division, AEJMC, 2020.
  • Top Paper Award, Political Communication Division, AEJMC, 2020.
  • Social Science Research Council (SSRC) News Coverage and US Elections workshop awardee, 2020.
  • Top Faculty Method Paper Award, Communication Theory and Methodology Division, AEJMC, 2017.
  • Top 2 Faculty Paper Award, Communication Theory and Methodology Division, AEJMC, 2017.

Selected Grants

  • Identifying and Implementing Effective Visual Enhancements to Correct High-Priority COVID-19 Misinformation. Poynter Institute, Co-Investigator, 2020–2021.
  • Multidisciplinary undergraduate research training in wearable computing. NSF, Co-Investigator, 2019-2023.
  • Letting go and staying connected. NIH, Co-Investigator, 2016-2023.
  • Faculty Seed Grant, Washington State University, Principal Investigator, 2014-2016.
  • Pilot grant from The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program, Washington State University, Principal Investigator, 2015-2017.

Selected Publications

Borah, P. & Irom, B. (Forthcoming). To donate or not to donate: Visual framing of the Rohingya refugees, pre-support for refugee policies, and donation intentions. Journal of Refugee Studies.

Borah, P. & Hwang, J.* (Forthcoming). Trust in doctors, positive attitudes, and H1N1 vaccination behavior: The role of doctor-patient communication. Health Communication.

Xiao, X. Borah, P., & Su, Y.* (Forthcoming). The dangers of blind trust: Examining the interplay among social media news use, misinformation identification, and trust on conspiracy beliefs. Public Understanding of Science.

Irom, B., Borah, P. & Gibbons, S.* (Forthcoming). The Rohingya refugee crisis: A study of visual representation in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly.

Su, Y.*, Lee, D.,*& Borah, P. (2021). The conditional indirect effects of political social media information seeking and expression on government evaluation in Hong Kong: Revisiting the communication mediation model. International Journal of Communication. 15, 23, 277–299.

Xiao, X.* & Borah, P. (2020). Do norms matter? Examining norm-based messages in HPV vaccination promotion. Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1770506

Lee, D.* & Borah, P. (2020). Self-presentation on Instagram and friendship development among young adults: A moderated mediation model of media richness, perceived functionality, and openness. Computers in Human Behavior. 103, 57-66, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.017

* Indicates student author at the time the research was conducted.

**For full list of publications, kindly check https://bit.ly/2YO8wXz

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