April 10, 2026
Leo Yang, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, has received a tenure-track job offer from Bridgewater State University in Boston, MA. His teaching will include courses on cybercrime.
Leo has has been a student fellow of the Center for Computer-Mediated Communication since 2022. He says his interest "in understanding how online platforms and digital interactions shape, amplify, or alter human behavior" was sparked in Susan Herring's Content Analysis for the Web course.
Leo's primary research interests within CMC center on online toxic behavior, as well as the psychological and societal impacts of emerging digital media like deepfakes and v-tubers. Leo's dissertation investigates specific mechanisms that cause hostile behaviors to spread communally through online networks, such as how exposure to toxic behavior influences the subsequent actions of otherwise passive observers. He hopes that his project will inform "effective platform moderation strategies and design interventions to interrupt the cycle of digital toxicity."
He holds a Master of Arts in Social and Cultural Psychology from Korea University, and he attributes his interest in examining how social influence and group dynamics translate to digital environments to his foundation in social and cultural psychology. To complement his research in criminal justice, he is pursuing a doctoral minor in Information and Library science.