Matthew VanDyke, Ph.D., an associate professor in Advertising & Public Relations, has been selected to the Office of Research and Economic Development’s (ORED) Senior Fellows program, which recognizes leaders in emerging fields within The University of Alabama (UA).
The goal of the Senior Fellows program is to create multidisciplinary teams to achieve tangible results, secure outside funding, and elevate UA’s research profile. Selection for the program emphasizes the individual’s exceptional research and contributions to the field, along with their professional expertise.
Fellows within the program also provide feedback directly to ORED, helping increase efficiency and services from those actively using them, to the benefit of the research and economic development community.
VanDyke’s research focuses on public communication of science and environmental risk information. His most recent work investigates public relations within the context of science and environmental risk, with opportunities to build theory and enhance practices using multidisciplinary concepts and theories.
“Dr. VanDyke is making the College of Communication & Information Sciences (C&IS) a significant force in science communications” said Brian Butler, Dean of C&IS, “His selection as an inaugural ORED Senior Fellow is recognition of his leadership in the University and beyond.”
In addition to teaching classes about public speaking, public relations and environmental communications, VanDyke is also the faculty lead for the Alabama Science Communication Initiative (ASCI) and Global Water Security Center/Alabama Water Institute (AWI).
The ASCI, part of the Office of Research in Science and Risk Communication Management, supports and promotes fundamental and applied research examining how organizations can better communicate about science and risks. The Office supports and promotes diverse epistemological, theoretical, and methodological perspectives serving as an incubator, facilitator and promoter of research and grant activities related to science and risk communication management.
The Alabama Water Institute studies where conversations about weather and water-related environmental hazards pool online, tracks how information spreads and advises organizations like NOAA and the WHO on best methods for warning large groups of people in emergencies. VanDyke’s work addresses water contamination threats using entropy and network theory via capacity building, using big data to develop an architecture for engineering and the social sciences.
If you would like to learn more about the AWI, check out C&IS’s interview with VanDyke’s research partner Dr. Rebecca Britt-Ivec in Communicator 45.
To learn more about VanDyke’s research, grants, publications and taught courses, visit his faculty page.