UC Blue Ash communication professor Krysten Stein has received an international award for research on popular media and digital culture.
Stein won the 2026 Early Career Scholar Award from the International Communication Association’s Popular Media and Communication Division, according to the University of Cincinnati’s Nov. 3 announcement. Division members selected her, and the award was announced at the association’s conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
Her research examines how popular culture and digital technology influence identity, relationships and everyday experience. Topics include reality television, social media influencers and the ways platforms turn personal experiences into content.
Book and research fellowship
Stein is completing a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies in Bochum, Germany. The fellowship runs from October through December, according to UC.
During the fellowship, she is working on her first book manuscript and beginning research for a second book about artificial intelligence therapy platforms, chatbots and algorithmic care.
Her first book, “And How Does That Make You Feel? Theratainment and the Digital Commodification of Mental Health,” is under contract with University of California Press. Publication is projected for 2028, rather than confirmed for a specific date.
The book examines how discussion of trauma, boundaries, healing and mental health intersects with entertainment and social media, UC said.
Connecting research and teaching
Stein was a first-generation college student. She said that experience informs her mentoring at UC Blue Ash, where she encourages students to take their interests seriously.
“Of course we should be studying them,” Stein said of media that millions of people use to understand their experiences.
