June 24, 2008

Doctoral student wins Internet research award

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Richie Neil Hao, a doctoral student in the Department of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, won the 2008 Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award for his paper “Virtually Tsinoy: Performing and Negotiating Diasportic Hybridity Online.”

Hao receives a cash award of $500 and the opportunity to present his paper at the Association of Internet Researchers annual conference in October in Copenhagen, where the Couch Center will present the awards.

Hao is originally from the Philippines. He recently attended the Central States Communication Association Conference in Madison, Wis., where he presented several papers and participated in a roundtable discussion on “Teaching in a time of war: Reflections on the basic course.”

The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research made the announcement last week. The annual award is for student-authored papers. The Couch Center awarded the first Couch Award in 2002, making it “the centerpiece of an extensive awards program,” according to information provided by the Couch Center. The award gets its name from the late Carl J. Couch, a professor of sociology from the University of Iowa.

The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research is a not-for-profit organization promoting the scholarship of its namesake. Couch founded the New Iowa School in sociological and communication inquiry.