The CEM lab is a collaborative research group that investigates the role of emerging media in the political communication landscape of the 21st century. Based in the and the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut and the Department of Communication at the University at Buffalo, the CEM Lab is committed to facilitating faculty-student collaborative research. The lab is co-directed by UConn Assistant Professor Jiyoun Suk as well as Assistant Professor Yini Zhang.

The CEM lab studies how people use digital media to consume news and political information, learn about politics, discuss and share political content with others, and engage in political processes. Its methodological approach combines cutting-edge computational methods like NLP, network analysis and modeling, computer vision, and LLM-powered machine learning, with conventional quantitative methodologies such as surveys and experiments. The Lab is dedicated to providing an open, diverse, inclusive, and collaborative space for students to investigate social and political phenomena in digital spaces and to develop their research skills. Through close faculty mentoring and weekly meetings, students are involved in all phases of the research process including idea generation, research design, data collection and analysis, and writing. We hope such hands-on research experience will prepare graduate students to later conduct independent research.