Assistant Professor of Advertising Grace Ahn profiled in UGA Focus on Faculty column

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, communications researcher and an assistant professor in the department of advertising and public relations in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, is the founding director of the Games and Virtual Environments Lab. This combination of virtual simulation devices allows users to experience something as if they are going through it in the physical world. 

Ahn's research focuses primarily on how virtual environments influence people's cognitive, affective and behavioral responses. She is exploring how digital technology can be used to encourage better food choices, more physical activity and better STEM learning in children. 

See more about Ahn at www.uga.edu/faculty/profile/ahn-sun-joo-grace/www.uga.edu/faculty/profile/ahn-sun-joo-grace/

Congrats to advertising faculty and alumni award winners

Ahn, King and Evans at the AAA Annual Conference

Congratulations to UGA advertising faculty and alumni for being recognized for national teaching and research distinctions. The American Academy of Advertising (AAA) held its 2015 Annual Conference March 26 - 29, in Chicago. The American Academy of Advertising honors educators and innovators in the advertising industry.

UGA's advertising faculty at AAA

During the annual conference, three faculty members from the Department of Advertising and Public Relations were recognized. 

• Nathaniel Evans, Assistant professor, received the Best Article Award from Journal of Interactive Advertising and also received a faculty research grant.
• Grace Ahn, Assistant professor, received the Mary Alice Shaver Promising Scholar Award.
• Karen King, Jim Kennedy New Media Professor, received the Charles Sandage Award for Excellence in Teaching which recognizes top educators in the industry.

In addition, several AdPR@UGA doctoral alumni also won awards at the AAA Annual Conference.

• Taehyun Baek (ABJ '07, PhD '11), Assistant professor at University of Kentucky, became the only person in AAA history to win Best Paper at the AAA Conference twice.
• Frederico de Gregorio (PhD '05), Associate professor of marketing at The University of Akron, won Best Reviewer Award from Journal of Advertising.
• Gergely Nyilasy (MMC '02, PhD '06), Senior lecturer at University of Melbourne's Melbourne Business School, won Best Reviewer for the Journal of Current Issues in Research in Advertising.

Advertising faculty and alumni

New AdPR professor Sun Joo Ahn publishes virtual reality study in Journal of Advertising

Congratulations to new Grady Advertising professor, Dr. Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, who just published a peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Advertising. She coauthored the study with Stanford University professor, Dr. Jeremy Bailenson. The article is titled, "Self-endorsing versus other-endorsing in virtual environments: The effect on brand attitude and purchase intention."

Dr. Ahn used virtual reality and avatars to study the effects of self-endorsement: "The incorporation of the consumer within an advertisement by depicting the self endorsing a brand or a product."

The researchers conducted three related studies to explore the effect of self-endorsement (individual's avatars using an unfamiliar brand) on brand attitudes and purchase intention.

According to Dr. Ahn, the results of these studies, "revealed that seeing the self's avatar endorse a brand by using it in a virtual space triggers individuals to develop a greater affinity for an unfamiliar brand compared to seeing another avatar use an unfamiliar brand."

She explains that, "overall, these studies implied that merely seeing digital self-representations arbitrarily linked with a brand is persuasive enough to elicit favorable brand attitude and purchasing intention. Furthermore, they suggest that the link between the self and brands may not be as elaborate as was once thought."

Dr. Ahn will be conducting additional virtual reality research in Grady's new virtual reality lab. This year she'll be teaching an advertising research course, as well as the advertising and society course.

Read the full article here.

Future ADPR Faculty Member Research Featured in Stanford Report

In-coming Grady faculty member, Dr. Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn's dissertation research in Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab was recently featured on the National Public Radio Marketplace Tech Report and in the Stanford Report. She will be will be joining the Grady College faculty this fall and bring her research in virtual reality with her.

Her research focuses on how virtual reality influences behavior. Ahn’s recent studies examined how participants responded to the experience of cutting down a tree in a virtual environment impacted their use of paper products. As quoted in the article, Ahn reports that her dissertation research found that “virtual reality can change how people behave.” Her findings revealed the people felt more responsible for damage when they participated in the virtual experience of cutting down the tree.

You can hear the "Marketplace" report featuring Dr. Ahn's research here:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/04/14/tech-report-virtual-reality-alters-real-world-behavior/

You can view a video about the lab and research here:

Ahn did her undergraduate work at Seoul National University, receiving a two bachelor’s degrees in Communication and Business Administration. She completed her doctoral degree from Stanford University this spring.