Ariana Reneau is an M.A./Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research draws on family and interpersonal communication theories to examine how individuals, dyads, and families navigate stress and conflict within the cultural and structural contexts that shape these processes. More specifically, her research considers how culture shapes engagement in conflict and how individuals, dyads, and families cope with stress stemming from structural barriers, with particular attention to the implications of these processes for individual and relational health and well-being. 

Breanna De Leeuw is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests center on motivations for deceit during communicative episodes, as well as the personal and relational implications of these messages. Her previous work used quantitative research methods from self-report data to examine the influence of biological sex, relational intimacy, attachment orientations, relational uncertainty, and face concerns on deploying deceptive communication within romantic relationships. She also investigated the impact of deceptive communication on relational commitment and relationship satisfaction in intimate partnerships. Her future research goals center on elucidating the association between trust and deception in various interpersonal contexts. 

Jiaqi is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research examines how people interact with new communication technologies in everyday life as well as their social and psychological consequences. He uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to study momentary and long-term processes, including experience sampling, longitudinal analysis, and experiments. His current work centers on two themes: (1) how digital technologies interrupt or support individuals' social interactions and the implications for well-being, including practices such as phubbing, co-use, and digital disconnection; and (2) how family, developmental, and social factors shape adolescents' use of AI and its differential effects, with the broader goal of addressing digital inequality and promoting positive media socialization.

Jake Spurlock is a graduate student in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research focuses on family and interpersonal communication, particularly how people navigate closeness, conflict, disclosure, and relational maintenance within families and other close relationships. He studies how communication helps individuals foster resiliency in families and other close interpersonal relationships. 

His recent work is a qualitative study examining how burdensomeness is communicated and managed within families. The project examines the communicative and relational implications of burdensomeness for family members and their relationships. More broadly, Jake is interested in communication surrounding trauma, identity, and stigma in intimate and familial contexts, including disclosure among male survivors of sexual violence and political disagreement between emerging adults and their parents.