Dr. Peter Chow-White is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University where he is Director of the Genomics and Networks Analysis Lab and Associate Director of the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology. He is also an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and a member of the Centre for Clinical Diagnostic Genomics at the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre in Vancouver. He received his PhD. from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He has been examining developments in new information technologies such as data mining and social media. He has worked with organizations such as the British Columbia Cancer Agency, The Terry Fox Foundation, Teck Mining, Stantec, the West Vancouver Fire Fighters Charitable Society, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Link to full bio here.
Pippa Adams is a PhD student in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. Her research focus is the way audiences in the age of social media interact with, talk about, and understand popular culture, particularly film and television. Pippa holds a BA in Political Science from UVic and an MA in Communication from SFU. Her Master’s thesis examined the production process on the television series Battlestar Galactica. Pippa works as the Research Manager at the GeNA Lab where she manages a range of quantitative and qualitative research projects.
Betty is a PhD candidate in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. Her current research is on the social construction of blockchain technologies. She is particularly interested in the symbiotic relationship between blockchain and the social dynamics of the gender digital divide in Ghana. Her research looks at how an internet based digital technology, so widely celebrated as disruptive and inclusive, will overturn the established knowledge monopolies of the information society to include hitherto marginalized persons. She has diverse research experience as a member of the School of Communication’s GeNA lab, and on projects funded by the IDRC, Ohio University’s Tropical Disease Institute and UNICEF. She has an MA in International Development Studies, and another in Spanish Language and Culture, both from Ohio University.
Julie is a PhD candidate in the School of Communication at SFU. Her research focuses on how information and communication technologies shape our everyday lives and vice versa, with a special interest in blockchain, big data, and data mining. She has published and presented research co-authored with supervisor Peter Chow-White on genomic big data and privacy, and on women and smartphones. Julie completed her MA in Media & Communications at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and has worked for several digital marketing agencies.
Scott is a post baccalaureate Computing Science student with an undergraduate degree in Geography and Certificate in Spatial Information Systems from SFU. His main area of research is big data in sports. In the GeNA lab, he has worked on the development of web-based data analysis platforms.
Alberto Lusoli is a PhD student in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. His interests focus on technology, work practices and organizations. His approach is inspired by technological constructivism and Actor-Network Theory. He is currently researching on the interplay between organizations, labour and technology within startup companies.
Jenn Mentanko is a second year Masters student in the School of Communications at Simon Fraser University. She was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta where she completed her undergraduate degree in Journalism at MacEwan University. Her Master’s thesis examines how new technology alters the definition of online privacy, with a specific look at blockchain-based platforms. She is a research assistant at the GeNA Lab and helps the team with research projects surrounding blockchain technology and communication. Outside of academia, she enjoys walking her dog, Waffles.
David Pham is a second degree Computer Science student at Simon Fraser University. He previously completed his Bachelors in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia. He is interested in the study of genomics and bioinformatics. Specifically, how applied mathematics and computing power can be utilized to address complex immunological problems and optimize health. He is currently working with GeNa Lab on their POG project.
Anh PhanVu is a Masters student and teaching assistant at Simon Fraser University School of Communication. She has completed her bachelor’s degree in Media and Cultural Studies at Newcastle University, the UK, and decided to continue with the academic path, exploring the role of social media and new technology on identity and social movements. Anh is interested in social movements and personal actions that stretch the boundaries and negotiate for the spaces “inbetween”. She is currently conducting research on the open data movement in Ukraine.
Weiwei is a Communications undergraduate student at SFU. She has been working as a work-study research assistant for the School of Communication since 2018 summer. Her projects include creating the Photoshop Inscriptions on YouTube and the GeNA Libib library management system and the audio transcription of for the lab’s blockchain project. She is interested in the social media platforms and journalism industry and pursued those fields by studying at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and working as a journalist for the second largest broadcasting system in China in 2018. She has also achieved proficiency in music through the certification at the highest level in both piano playing and singing at the Chinese Musicians Association. !
Sandy Green studies the role of rhetoric in markets and corporations. His research has been published in the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Management Communication Quarterly, and Journal of Management Inquiry.
Frédérik Lesage is an Assistant Professor in Information and Communication Technologies in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. He completed his doctoral thesis at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2009 in the Department of Media and Communications on the topic of how creative organizations appropriate new media infrastructural standards as part of collective artistic practices. Frédérik specializes in teaching digital culture and theories of cultural production. Prior to his current appointment, Frédérik lectured at King's College London and the University of Cambridge. His ongoing research deals with how artists and other cultural practitioners design and use digital media with a particular focus on the links between discourses of creative agency and digitally mediated practice. " Peer-reviewed publications include: 'Cultural Biographies and Excavations of Media: Context and process' in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media and 'Reviewing Photoshop: mediating cultural subjects for application software' in Convergence. "
Dr. Jeremy Snyder is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, having received his PhD in Philosophy from Georgetown University. His research interests focus on ethical issues arising from international trade, especially trade in health services. He is currently engaged in research projects on crowdfunding for medical expenses, medical tourism, health worker migration, and exploitation in pharmaceutical development and low wage labour.
Dung Ha is a Master's student working on research related to big data and health in Simon Fraser University's School of Communication. Her main research focus is genomics literacy. Apart from studying, Dung is an avid hiker and a wanderlust at heart.
Maryam Mozafari received her B.A. in International Studies in 2011 from Simon Fraser University. Having an interest in the French Language, she decided to complete a certificate in French Language Proficiency in 2012. She is now pursuing a Master's degree in French Literature at SFU. Maryam enjoys conducting research and presently she is excited to do research on social media at the GeNA Lab.
Stephan Struve has a Master’s degree from the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. His thesis explored the role of the media in hyping genomic science and focusing on the public understanding of genetic science. Using Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis, Stephan combines critical inquiry with advanced research methods. As a GE3LS research assistant and blogger, he is trying to bridge the gap between academic research and the public. Stephan received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in 2011. Prior to immigrating to Canada in 2008, Stephan completed a Bachelor of Journalism degree in Germany, where he worked as a freelance science journalist.
Lucas Wu is an undergraduate student majoring in Statistics at Simon Fraser University. He is a basketball enthusiast and interested in machine learning and computational statistics applied to sports, finance and social problems. In 2013, he joined the GeNA lab to help the team working on the project - Big Data in Professional Sports. In his leisure time, he loves playing basketball, travelling and talking to his laptop in R.
Chuancong is a PhD student in School of Computing Science at Simon Fraser University. His current research includes data integration and database algorithms. In GeNA Lab, he is leading the development of GeNA Miner, an interactive web-based data analysis platform on large amount data from multiple sources. Currently, his main job duties covers collecting, indexing, analyzing/mining, and visualizing data from PubMed, Twitter, GoFundMe, NCAA's Basketball, etc.
Juhua obtained her PhD degree in Computer Science from School of Computing Science at Simon Fraser University in December 2017. Her research interests include machine learning, data mining, data analytics, optimization, social network analysis, computer vision, and text mining. In the GeNA Lab, she is mainly working on data science including data cleaning, statistical analysis and text mining. Her personal website is here. Her personal website is here.
Rebecca is a sociologist (PhD, Queen's) and postdoctoral researcher in the GeNA Lab in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University studying the intersections of science and sociology. She has a BA in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies and an MA in Communication from SFU. Focusing on theoretical and empirical explorations of biology, public understandings of science, and knowledge translation, she explores the ways in which science and sociology can be mutually informed and in so doing, be transformed. Specific topics of interest include science studies and performative accounts of scientific practice; reproductive politics; placentas, pregnancy, pre-eclampsia, and the developmental origins of health and disease; obesity and fat; science education and public perspectives of science; ethics and tissue donation; cross-cultural bioethics; genomics as a productive technology in healthcare; and ethnography, interviewing, and survey methodologies. She has published in Feminist Theory, Social Theory and Health, Placenta, and the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics. You can view her website at rebeccayoshizawa.com.
Anita is a Communications PhD student at SFU. Under the supervision of Dr. Peter Chow-White, she is currently working in the GeNA lab conducting interviews with genomic scientists and clinicians to collect data regarding issues of consent and returning research results. Her academic background includes Cell Biology and Genetics (BSc, UBC), Computer Systems (D. Tech, BCIT), and Professional Communication (MAPC, Royal Roads). Her interest in Genomics stems from her professional experience working at the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre. As a Computational Biologist, she wrote computer scripts to help solve biological problems under Dr. Steven Jones. She is currently part of the Projects team providing grant facilitation and management to several Genome BC and Genome Canada projects.
