Hyojin Lee’s research examines how people use communication technologies to exercise agency under conditions of social and structural constraint. Her recent work focuses on how digital media shape support seeking, relationships, well-being, and collective action among immigrant and undocumented communities.
Hyojin Lee is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Before beginning her doctoral training, she worked as a digital content creator, producing more than 120 videos that reached a global audience and accumulated over 1.2 million views. Her experiences creating online content and engaging with digital communities continue to inform how she approaches research and teaching.
At UCSB, Hyojin has taught courses spanning communication theory, research methods, social media, health, and risk communication, including as instructor of record for News, Politics, and Democracy. She is also deeply committed to undergraduate mentorship and was recognized with UCSB’s 2025 Carol Genetti Graduate Mentoring Award. Her research has been published in Communication Monographs, Human Communication Research, and Mass Communication and Society.
B.S./B.A. (2018), Yonsei University, Economics/Techno-Art
M.A. (2022), Seoul National University, Communication