Emily Dawson

Biography 

Emily’s academic career began at Cornell University in the Communication Department studying Communication and Information Science, minoring in Education. Upon graduating, she started her PhD journey at the University of Maryland, enjoying two years in the Washington D.C. area, gaining academic experience through her studies and industry grant writing exposure through a local Maryland consulting firm. In her second year at UMD, Emily decided to graduate with her Master's degree and take a year off from academia to further explore communication theory application in industry before joining the Purdue COM family in the Fall of 2024. 

Research and Teaching 

Emily has trained in both quantitative and qualitative research methods and enjoys working in the intergenerational communication space. She likes to explore questions about family dynamics and dyadic relationships within family units. Emily’s master’s thesis papers studied how different generations conceptualize “family” for themselves and socially. She is also interested in researching how age might play a role in workplace communication amongst generationally diverse teams. 

During her PhD journey thus far, Emily has a wide range of teaching experience: Persuasion and Social Influence, Research Methods, Intro to Theory, and Public Speaking. She is interested in teaching interpersonal, small group, and family communication courses in the future, as well as continuing her beyond-the-classroom communication teaching efforts through her company Duly Noted Communication Consulting Group. Emily also plans to continue pursuing grant opportunities to fund her research; she assisted clients in Maryland to win multi-million-dollar grants from various private and government organizations.