S. Shyam Sundar is the founder of the Media Effects Research Laboratory, a leading facility of its kind in the country. He teaches courses in the psychology of communication technology, media theory, and research methodology. He earned his doctoral and master's degrees in communication. His industry experience includes more than eight years as a journalist. He holds joint faculty appointments in the departments of film-video and media studies, advertising, architecture, and communication arts and sciences at Penn State. Sundar's research investigates social and psychological effects of technological elements unique to online communication, ranging from websites to newer social and personal media. In particular, his studies experimentally investigate the effects of interactivity, navigability, multi-modality, and agency (source attribution) in digital media interfaces upon online users' thoughts, emotions, and actions. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation, Korea Science and Engineering Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services, among others. A frequently cited source on technology, Sundar has testified before Congress as an expert witness and delivered talks at several universities in the United States, Germany, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Korea, China, Singapore, and India. He has served on the editorial boards of 18 journals. From 2013 to 2017, Sundar was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. He is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and recipient of the Deutschmann award for research excellence from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

Twitter: @shyamer
Web: http://bellisario.psu.edu/people/individual/s.-shyam-sundar