Dr. Anthony Dudo awarded College of Communication Research Award
Associate professor Dr. Anthony Dudo has been selected as the 2012 recipient of the College of Communication Ellen A. Wartella Distinguished Research Award for his work examining the intersection of science, media and society.
Dudo was officially presented with his award at the College of Communication convocation ceremony on Dec. 8, 2012.
Every fall, university faculty members are sent a request for a self-nominating submission for a published research award. This year, nine professors from across the different departments of the college submitted research for this competitive and prestigious award.
Dudo had only been at The University of Texas for a few months when he received the request to submit his research for the award last year.
“I had recently published a study that was a lot of fun to conduct, so I figured ‘What the heck?’ and decided to submit it to the competition,” he said.
The college’s Faculty Research Committee, composed of faculty from across the college of communication, selected Dudo for the award. They consider submissions based on conceptual innovations, contribution to the literature in this field and the methodological, pedagogical, or policy-related advances or contributions made.
Dudo’s study examined how primetime TV shows have portrayed scientists since the year 2000 and how these portrayals inform our attitudes about science.
“Our findings suggest that entertainment TV programming can, in certain contexts, contribute positively toward public understanding of science,” he said. “My co-authors and I hope that this study will help ongoing efforts that aim to forge stronger relationships among the public, media, and scientific community.”
Dudo has had his research funded by two government grants, consulted for the National Academy of Sciences, received a dissertation fellowship. In addition, he has already won awards for his research from The Society for Risk Analysis and The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
When Dudo was announced as the winner of the research award at the Ellen Wartella talk in the Belo auditorium, he didn’t know what to think.
“[I felt] surprised, humbled, honored….a whirlwind of emotions,” he said. “I feel so lucky to be a part of the Department of Advertising and the UT College of Communications, so winning this award felt, and still feels, terrific.”
As for the future, Dudo plans to continue working on research at UT. “I'm so excited to continue working with our wonderful undergrads and grad students… hopefully on more award-winning research, he said.”