Faculty Profile for Dr. Heidi Makady

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Dr. Heidi Makady is an Assistant Professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Florida and her Master’s from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She has been immersed in the world of communication as a practitioner for 10 years.

Prior to earning her Ph.D., she worked as an audience development strategist and analyst at AJ+ multilingual channels, where she developed the launch and content strategy for AJ+ Français YouTube and Instagram channels. She drove an organic growth of audience reach and engagement while advising content production teams with performance analyses to drive multi-channel strategies. Dr. Makady has also worked as a news reporter, covering major global events like the United Nations COP-18 Climate Change Conference where she interviewed senior officials, and managed a diverse client portfolio working in the field of PR and advertising. She worked at multiple international advertising firms, including France's Havas Media Group. Her practitioner experience informs both her teaching and research.

Research Interests

Dr. Makady’s research centers on Human-AI Interaction and Human-Machine Communication, examining how audience algorithmic awareness and understanding of AI recommendation systems influence their attitude toward AI-enabled technologies. Her work also explores user experience with AI wearables and the ethics and policies of AI algorithms in public life. She presented her research at multiple national and international conferences including AEJMC, AAA, and HCII. As a doctoral student, her research examining news audience algorithmic awareness and news content consumption received AEJMC 2021 Student Paper award. You can find her research published in Electronic News: Broadcast & Mobile Journalism Journal, Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science, and International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction.

In 2022, she was named a Kopenhaver Center Fellow by the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication. Currently, she serves as the Vice Head & Programming Chair for the Broadcast & Mobile Journalism Division of AEJMC.