Dr. Andrew R. Binder

Assistant Professor Dr. Andrew R. Binder is the Communication faculty scholar of the month. His research focuses on how people develop attitudes toward and learn about science and risk, how the mass media depicts emerging technologies, and how social factors shape the communication of science.

Dr. Binder’s published articles have focused on the interplay between mass communication and interpersonal communication—the messages people receive from media and how they talk about those topics with family and friends. This research has contributed to a greater understanding of how people come to see issues from polarized stances and how this dynamic is not limited to politics.

In a book manuscript in development, Dr. Binder examines how communities made sense of new potential risks posed to them by the National Bio- and Agro-defense Facility (NBAF). This story of risk is compelling because of how different people’s views became, even among those with similar backgrounds. The book project aims to untangle the how people’s feelings about the facility resulted from communication and how messages originating from various sources influenced the level of controversy surrounding it.

Recent classes taught at NC State:

COM 240: Communication Inquiry
COM 386: Quantitative Communication Research Methods
COM 498: Media & Politics (special topics course)
COM 541: Quantitative Research Methods in Applied Communication
COM 561: Human Communication Theory
COM 598: Seminar on Mass Media & Public Opinion (special topics course)