News

Qiyao Peng Won Two Top Student Paper Awards at NCA 🏆🏆

🎉 Congratulations to our Ph.D. candidate, Qiyao Peng, on receiving two Top Student Paper Awards at the NCA 112th Annual Convention in New Orleans!

CHARM Lab RA training on the Eye-Tracking Protocol 👀

👀 Research assistants in the CHARM Lab spent this week learning the lab’s eye-tracking protocol.

Qiyao Peng Won AEJMC Student Research Award 🏆

🎉 Congratulations to our Ph.D. candidate, Qiyao Peng, on a big week at the 2026 AEJMC Annual Conference in New Orleans!

Qiyao Peng Won the Social Impact Award 🎉

🎉 Congratulations to our Ph.D. candidate, Qiyao Peng, on receiving the Social Impact Award from the UCSB Department of Communication!

CHARM Lab Brings Generative AI Research to the Santa Barbara County Tobacco Prevention Summit 🎤

🎤 Dr. Jiaying Liu and Ph.D. candidate Qiyao Peng spoke at the 2026 Tobacco Prevention Summit hosted by Santa Barbara County, sharing what the lab has learned about using AI to personalize anti-vaping messages for young adults.

Funding Awarded from Waterhouse Family Institute (WFI) 🎉

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Jiaying Liu has been awarded the prestigious Waterhouse Family Institute (WFI) Grant for the Study of Communication and Society!

Collaborative Cannabis Research Wins R01 Funding 🎉

Exciting news — a Drug Policy Research collaboration among UC San Diego, The Ohio State University, and UCSB’s CHARM Lab has earned a major R01 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse!

This $3M+ project will run from July 2025 to April 2030 and focus on enhancing health warning messages for recreational cannabis products in California, using experimental and eye-tracking methods. UCSD will serve as the the prime awardee, with UCSB as a key subaward site. Let's hear it for Jiaying and the whole team doing cutting-edge cannabis prevention work in California!

Yidi Wang Won Top Student Paper & Graduate Student Mentorship Award at NCA 🏆

🎉 Congratulations to our lab manager, Yidi Wang, for receiving the Top Student Paper Award in the Communication and Social Cognition Division at the 2025 National Communication Association (NCA) Conference! Yidi also earned the 🏆 Graduate Student Mentorship Award, and we could not be prouder of her achievements!