scholarly works & c.v.

educational history

ph.d in arts, technology, and emerging communication, university of texas at dallas

  • August 2022 - May 2026

  • Instructor on Record (Reading Media Critically, Writing for ATEC)

  • Graduate teaching assistant (assisted in the following courses: Critical Media Research Foundations, Intro to Technoculture, Reading Media Critically)

  • Fields of interest: Asian-American studies, queer & trans media studies, community-based research methods, health communication, political communication, critical game studies, critical media studies

  • ATEC Student Representative for the Bass School Assoc. of Grad Students 2023-2024

  • Developed 2D and 3D games in Unity and Unreal

  • Critical Media Studies Essay Contest 2023 - 3rd Place

  • Researched Riot Game’s successful business model with critical applications of games and play, the act of playing the games, and the players and cultures surrounding them

m.a in communications, university of texas at arlington

  • Presented at ICA (International Communication Association) conference in Paris 2022. Submission investigated intergenerational communication on topics of sexual/mental health and willingness to communicate within Vietnamese-American communities

  • Utilized psychology background to strengthen master's studies and seminars

  • Worked as a teacher's assistant for Intro to PR course in Spring of 2021

  • In conjunction with my role in the course, I assisted the supervising professor in researching students’ satisfaction with synchronous and asynchronous courses as the university continued its online learning model to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions. Our findings were presented to the department during a faculty meeting, guiding discussions about teaching during the pandemic.  

  • Wrote a thesis on the communication differences between Vietnamese-American immigrants and their children born in the U.S. Specifically, my thesis investigated intergenerational communication on topics of sexual and mental health and political affiliation, collecting complete survey data from 869 Vietnamese-Americans.

academic publications/conferences

  • Texas Association for Asian American Diasporic Studies (TAAADS) Symposium (2025) - From Saigon to Gaza: Relational Histories of Resistance to Imperialism and Militarism

  • International Film and Media Conference (2024) - Girl-Bossing Too Close to the Sun—Exploring the Pitfalls of Navigating Capitalism and Neoliberalism in Parallel with OnlyFans

  • Vo, A. (2023). Making a Riot in the Gaming Space: Complicating the Successes of Riot Games Through Complaints. Interactive Film & Media Journal, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.32920/ifmj.v3i2.1775

  • Vo, A. (Author), Brannon, G. E. (Author & Presenter), International Communication Association, "Mapping out the Vietnamese American experience: Exploring the relationship between parenting styles and willingness to communicate about health topics between Vietnamese American generations," Paris, France. (May 2022).