Max Erdemandi, PhD, MS
Applied Statistician, Measurement and Survey Methodologist, Media/Social Psychologist
Max Erdemandi, PhD, MS
Applied Statistician, Measurement and Survey Methodologist, Media/Social Psychologist
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Applied Statistician, Measurement and Survey Methodologist, Media/Social Psychologist
✉️ Email 📄 CV 🔗 LinkedIn 📖Google Scholar
My research examines how people interact with information systems and emerging media technologies under conditions of uncertainty, from artificial intelligence and entertainment narratives to natural disasters and sociopolitical crises. Broadly, I study how media environments shape cognition and identity in ways that affect collective wellbeing, institutional trust, and evidence-based policy. I specialize in crisis, media/communication technologies, and the methodological and epistemological practices that shape communication research:
My research examines how people interact with information systems and emerging media technologies under conditions of uncertainty, from artificial intelligence and entertainment narratives to natural disasters and sociopolitical crises. Broadly, I study how media environments shape cognition and identity in ways that affect collective wellbeing, institutional trust, and evidence-based policy. I specialize in crisis, media/communication technologies, and the methodological and epistemological practices that shape communication research:
Human–Technology Interaction & Information Systems
Human–Technology Interaction & Information Systems
🧠 Cognitive, affective, and social processes underlying extreme belief formation
🧠 Cognitive, affective, and social processes underlying extreme belief formation
🤖 Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI as risk/crisis communication tools
🤖 Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI as risk/crisis communication tools
📺 Sociopolitical effects of social, emerging, and entertainment media
📺 Sociopolitical effects of social, emerging, and entertainment media
🎬 Narrative cognition, information processing, and immersive media environments
🎬 Narrative cognition, information processing, and immersive media environments
Crisis, Risk, and Resilience Communication
Crisis, Risk, and Resilience Communication
⚡ Risk, disaster, and emergency communication and management
⚡ Risk, disaster, and emergency communication and management
🌎 Decentralized/community-based disaster communication in marginalized & rural contexts
🌎 Decentralized/community-based disaster communication in marginalized & rural contexts
🚨 Sociotechnical systems, public trust, and governance in crises
🚨 Sociotechnical systems, public trust, and governance in crises
Meta-Perspectives on Communication Scholarship
Meta-Perspectives on Communication Scholarship
🔎 Epistemological and methodological practices shaping the communication discipline
🔎 Epistemological and methodological practices shaping the communication discipline
📐 Systematic biases and validity threats in survey-based research
📐 Systematic biases and validity threats in survey-based research
💬 Computational, psycholinguistic, and multi-method data collection and analysis
💬 Computational, psycholinguistic, and multi-method data collection and analysis
My dissertation, entitled “Strongly (Dis)Agree: Uncovering the Distorting Effects of Extreme Response Style (ERS) in Survey-Based Extremism Research,” is supported by UMD's Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship, Phi Delta Gamma Graduate Fellowship for excellence in interdisciplinary research, and the NCA's Doctoral Honors Seminar. I am also the 2025 recipient of the Charles Richardson Award, presented to the most outstanding doctoral student in the Department of Communication, and a WFI Research Grant from Villanova University for the 2025-26 academic year.
My dissertation, entitled “Strongly (Dis)Agree: Uncovering the Distorting Effects of Extreme Response Style (ERS) in Survey-Based Extremism Research,” is supported by UMD's Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship, Phi Delta Gamma Graduate Fellowship for excellence in interdisciplinary research, and the NCA's Doctoral Honors Seminar. I am also the 2025 recipient of the Charles Richardson Award, presented to the most outstanding doctoral student in the Department of Communication, and a WFI Research Grant from Villanova University for the 2025-26 academic year.
Education
PhD, Communication Science & Social Cognition, University of Maryland (2026)
PhD, Communication Science & Social Cognition, University of Maryland (2026)
MS, Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation, University of Maryland (2025)
MS, Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation, University of Maryland (2025)
MA, Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies, Duke University (2014)
MA, Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies, Duke University (2014)
BA, American & Cultural Studies, Hacettepe University Ankara (2012)
News
08/29/2025
My proposal has been selected as one of the ten WFI grant recipients for 2025-26.
06/15/2025
My paper "Fragmented Fields, Shared Foundations: Mapping Social Identity Research on Fake News, Conspiracy Beliefs, and Extremism" was awarded top student paper in Group Comm at NCA 2025.
05/22/2025
I graduated with my M.S. in Quantitative Methodology, Measurement and Statistics from UMD.
05/12/2025
I was awarded 2025 Charles Richardson Award, recognizing the most outstanding Ph.D. student in the COMM department.
01/15/2025
I was interviewed for SAGE's Media, Communication & Cultural Studies series, discussing my research on entertainment media enjoyment and conspiracy belief.
12/30/2023
I was interviewed for NPR's American Homefront Project.
More
Research
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Peer-Reviewed Publications
✏️ Max Erdemandi & Anita Atwell Seate
📘 Communication Quarterly, 2026
💰 Supported by the Faculty Research Grant, Dept. of Communication, University of Maryland
Fragmented fields: Mapping social identity research on fake news, conspiracy beliefs, and extremism.
✏️ Max Erdemandi
📘 Handbook of Fake News, Misinformation, and Disinformation: Critical Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges (Ed., J. McAlaney) (forthcoming)
✏️ Max Erdemandi, Elena Savoia, & Michael Williams
📘 The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Journal, 2024
✏️ Victoria McDermott, Amy May, A., Leandra H. Hernández, Max Erdemandi, Nick Mararac, Hamilton Bean, William T. Howe, Kurt Braddock, Stevie Munz, Precious Yamaguchi, & Alexa DiCamillo
📘 Journal of Applied Communication Research, 2022
Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers
Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers
How to predict misinformation? Exploring the latent psycholinguistic space
✏️ Max Erdemandi & Katherine Raymond
✅ Accepted, Applied Communication Division, The 109th NCA Annual Convention, 2023
The dark side of entertainment: Exploring the ties between entertainment media enjoyment and conspiracy belief
✏️ Max Erdemandi
✅ Accepted, Mass Communication Division, The 109th NCA Annual Convention, 2023
Masks don’t work: Ideology associations and the geospatial propagation patterns of COVID-19 disinformation on Twitter
✏️ Max Erdemandi
🏅 Top Student Paper, Mass Communication Division, The 107th NCA Annual Convention, 2021
QAnon casualties: A thematic analysis of secondary trauma effects of online extremist behavior on interpersonal relationships.
✏️ Max Erdemandi & Victoria McDermott
✅ Accepted, Mass Communication Division, The 107th NCA Annual Convention, 2021
Expansion of automated event coding for better understanding security analysis
✏️ Max Erdemandi, Rachel Augustine, Ryan Steed, & Lin Zhao
✅ Accepted, Conflict Division, ISA-South Annual Conference, 2017
Working Papers
Working Papers
Fragmented Fields, Shared Foundations: Mapping Social Identity Research on Fake News, Conspiracy Beliefs, and Extremism
✏️ Max Erdemandi
🏅 Top Student Paper, Group Communication Division, The 111th NCA Annual Convention, 2025
📘 In print, Handbook of Misinformation, Disinformation and Fake News, Ed. J. McAlaney
The political effects of fictional narratives: Theory and methods
✏️ Jack Gierzynski, Max Erdemandi, Tom van Laer, & Anita Atwell Seate
✅ Accepted, Political Communication Division, 120th APSA Annual Meeting, 2025
📘 Under review, Perspectives on Politics
Artificial Intelligence as a Crisis Communicator: Psycholinguistic Comparison of AI and Government Messaging in Disasters
✏️ Max Erdemandi
Evaluating Extreme Response Style (ERS) Effects on Model Fit: A Simulation Study on Person- And Item-Centric Approaches in Latent Measurement Models
✏️ Max Erdemandi & Sanford Student
✅ Accepted, Applied Communication Division, The 111th NCA Annual Convention, 2025
Mapping Entertainment Media Motivations: Measure Development and Application
✏️ Max Erdemandi & Anita Atwell Seate
💰 Supported by the Faculty Research Grant, Dept. of Communication, University of Maryland
Psycholinguistic Cues of Secondary Traumatization in Close Relationships with Conspiracy Theory Believers
✏️ Max Erdemandi
Teaching
Instructor of Record
Instructor of Record
🔎 BSST338A/COMM398B: Misinformation, Conspiracy Theories, and the Radicalization of Modern Societies (Elective)
🌪️ BSST334: States of Emergency (Core)
💬 COMM107: Oral Communication: Principles and Practices (Gen. Ed.)
Teaching Assistant
Teaching Assistant
🖥 BSST338Y: The New Theater of Terror: Online Terrorism (Elective)
😱 BSST327: Introduction to Terrorism and the Terrorist Threat (Core)
🗃️ COMM250: Introduction to Communication Inquiry (Core)
📺 COMM303: Media Theory (Core)
📚 COMM304: Communication Research Literacy (Core)
💣 BSST630: Motivations and Intents of Terrorists and Terrorist Groups (Core)
Awards & Funded Research
Awards
Awards
🏅 The Charles Richardson Award for the Most Outstanding PhD Student, 2025
Dept. of Communication, University of Maryland
🏅 Top Student Paper in Group Communication Division, 2025
National Communication Association (NCA)
🏅 The Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship, 2025
The Graduate School, University of Maryland
🏅 The Doctoral Honors Seminar, 2024
National Communication Association (NCA)
🏅 The Jacob K. Goldhaber Travel Grant, 2023
The Graduate School, University of Maryland
🏅 Summer Research Grant, 2022, 2023
College of Arts & Humanities (ARHU), University of Maryland
🏅 Phi Delta Gamma Excellence in Interdisciplinary Research Award, 2021
The Graduate School, University of Maryland
🏅 Top Student Paper in Mass Communication Division, 2021
National Communication Association (NCA)
🏅 Top Panel in Communication and Military Division, 2021
National Communication Association (NCA)
🏅 Tuition scholarship (100%), 2011-2013
The Graduate School, Duke University
Funded Research
Funded Research
Administered by ORA (External)
State(s) of Emergency: Decentralizing Federal Disaster Communication and Response, and Its Consequences for Environmentally and Socially Marginalized Communities [P.I. Max Erdemandi, UMD]
📝 The Waterhouse Family Institute at Villanva University
💰 $9,750
📅 October 2025 – May 2026
The Road Less Traveled: Bolstering the Absorptive Capacity of Southern Central American States to Facilitate the Northern Triangle Immigrants [P.I. Dr. Marcus Boyd, UMD]
📝 U.S. Department of Homeland Security
💰 $200,000
📅 March 2020 – March 2021
Divergent Dimensions of Radicalization: Migration & Violent Extremism in Sabah [Co-P.Is. Dr. Barnett Koven, Dr. Amy Pate, UMD]
📝 U.S. Department of State
💰 $250,000
📅 September 2019 – September 2021
Counterterrorism Net Assessment Data Structure/CTNEADS [P.I. Dr. Barnett Koven, UMD]
📝 U.S. Department of Defense
💰 $375,000
📅 January 2019 - January 2020
Measuring Up: Aligning SOF and Interagency CT Efforts Across the Tactical, Operational and Strategic Levels [P.I. Dr. Barnett Koven, UMD]
📝 U.S. Department of Defense
💰 $100,000
📅 July 2019 - July 2020
Bargaining on and off the Battlefield: The Bargaining Model of War and Negotiations with the Afghan Taliban [P.I. Dr. Barnett Koven, UMD]
📝 Joint Special Operations University (JSOU)
💰 $95,000
📅 February 2019 - August 2019
Evaluating the Safe Spaces Community-Led CVE Program [P.I. Dr. Stevan Weine, UIC]
📝 The National Institute for Justice (NIJ), U.S. Department of Justice
💰 $940,000
📅 October 2018 - March 2019 .
Resources & Resilience: A Computational Modeling of Strategic Influence [P.I. Dr. William A. Rivera, Duke University]
📝 Minerva Research Initiative, U.S. Department of Defense
💰 $3,000.000
📅 June 2015 - June 2018
Not administered by ORA (Internal)
Mapping Entertainment Media Motivations: A Two-Part Study on Measure Development and Application [Co-P.Is Max Erdemandi, Dr. Anita Atwell Seate, UMD]
📝 Department of Communication, University of Maryland
💰 $5,000
📅 November 2023
Introduction to Communication Inquiry Assessment and Course Redesign [P.I. Dr. Anita Atwell Seate, UMD]
📝 Department of Communication, University of Maryland
💰 $6,000
📅 June 2023 – September 2023
Essentials of Intercultural Communication Assessment and Course Redesign [P.I. Dr. Nick Joyce, UMD]
📝 Department of Communication, University of Maryland
💰 $8,000
📅 June 2020 – September 2020
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