I am a Ph.D. student and Graduate Teaching Associate at the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State University. I am also a Graduate Fellow 2024-2025 at Global Human Rights Hub, ASU. 

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My research investigates the cultural, ethical, and socio-technical dimensions of emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and digital media. Grounded in several years of industry experience as a senior product operator and content moderation editor at leading tech firms such as ByteDance and Douyu Live Streaming (NASDAQ: DOYU), I bring a practitioner’s lens to the study of innovations and technologies.

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Drawing on this dual perspective, my work explores how algorithmic systems intersect with institutional authority, cultural identity, and everyday digital life, especially within intercultural and international contexts, including religion and journalism in the U.S., China, and Sweden. I aim to build interdisciplinary, communication-centered frameworks that deepen our understanding of human-AI interaction, techno-spirituality, and religious human-machine communication.

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My past and current research spans three key themes: (1) exploring how religious (and/or spiritual) organizations and communities negotiate AI presence and adoption within religious authority, (2) understanding power asymmetries embedded in human-AI interaction across Chinese newsrooms, and (3) analyzing how digital infrastructures shape normative practices around data, identity, and memory.

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Methodologically, I am a qualitatively driven mixed-methods researcher. I integrate in-depth interviews, ethnography, critical discourse analysis, and computational text analysis, such as topic modeling, to explore how communication technologies shape meaning, power, and identity. My work draws on interdisciplinary insights from communication studies, science and technology studies (STS), and the sociology of religion. My industry background deepens my ability to interrogate platform operations and technological imaginaries. Thus, I seek to contribute to emerging global conversations on responsible innovation that center equity, cultural context, and ethical accountability in the design and governance of emerging technologies.

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I obtained my master's degree (Master's of Social Science, specialising in Digital Media and Society) from Department of Informatics and Media at Uppsala University in Sweden and a B.A. degree (Journalism) at Linyi University in China. Before embarking on my PhD studies, I served as an Instructor in the Department of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University Mainland campus (UIC).