The group was founded in 2014 and consists primarily of graduate students from the School of Communication at The Ohio State University (OSU), but also includes OSU undergraduate students in communication and computer science. Furthermore, post-doctoral researchers at OSU and from visiting scholars from other universities work in this research group.
Dr. Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick is the lead researcher, but the individual projects are typically led by graduate students and other SEMI-ME members.
The group meets weekly and in some semesters several times a week — these SEMI-ME meetings are at the heart of what the group is all about: Brainstorming and discussing new research ideas and opportunities, rehearsing research presentations, figuring out research design details (i.e., improving stimuli, data analysis strategies, adding nuance to theoretical constructs and predictions).
Additionally, one-on-one meetings with the lead researcher and sub-team meetings are held as needed — but the same kind of conversations may happen in the break-room or over coffee. Additional weekly meetings with computer science students serve to cover the software development of research applications