Now in its ninth year, the Sandi Smith Research Fellowship continues to support graduate students whose research advances health and risk communication while honoring the legacy of one of the College of Communication Arts and Sciences’ most influential scholars.
Administered by the Health and Risk Communication Center, the fellowship was established in 2017 to recognize the career and values of the center’s former director, Sandi Smith. Smith’s work helped shape the field of health and risk communication, and her commitment to mentoring students remains central to the fellowship’s mission. Each Smith Fellowship project is supported by a faculty adviser, reinforcing a model of collaboration between faculty and graduate researchers.
“Sustaining the fellowship for nearly a decade reflects the center’s continued investment in student-led research,” said Maria Knight Lapinski, director of the Health and Risk Communication Center.
“Graduate students often generate innovative ideas, and access to funding can determine whether those ideas move forward,” Lapinski said. “By supporting both master’s and doctoral students, the fellowship recognizes that meaningful research occurs at multiple stages of graduate training, from early project development to advanced dissertation work.”
This year’s recipients are Xiaoran Cui, a master’s student in the Department of Communication, and Trent Henry, a doctoral student in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders.
Cui is studying how grandchildren help their grandparents use digital technologies and how these interactions may protect older adults from online health misinformation. Building on prior work using Family Communication Patterns Theory, Cui will conduct surveys and interviews with grandparents to examine when family communication encourages digital learning and when it may reduce older adults’ confidence. Her faculty adviser is Brooke Wolfe, assistant professor in the Department of Communication.
“This funding makes it possible for me to recruit and interview grandparents about how they learn to use digital technologies within their families,” said Cui. “Without this support, it would be much harder to gather the in-depth data needed to understand how family communication can protect older adults from online health misinformation.”
Henry is examining how voice disorders affect human communication. With support from the fellowship, Henry will use a high-speed camera to record laryngeal activity to better understand how voice disorders influence vocal function. His research aims to advance more accurate diagnosis and management of voice disorders, with potential benefits for both clinical practice and patient health. His faculty adviser is Maryam Naghibolhosseini, associate professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders.
“I am incredibly grateful to receive this award,” Henry said. “This fellowship will strengthen my research in voice science and create new opportunities to share my findings with leaders in the field.”
Beyond financial support, the fellowship allows students to pursue research projects that directly contribute to degree completion and professional development, often enabling work that would not be possible otherwise.
As the Smith Fellowship enters its ninth year, the Health and Risk Communication Center plans to continue supporting junior scholars engaged in impactful research that reflects Smith’s enduring commitment to mentorship, collaboration and the public good.
This story originally appeared on the College of Communication Arts and Sciences website.
