She has a passion for advocacy and social justice issues, and her research focuses on the intersections between activism, risk and crisis communication, public safety, and social media. Dr. Madden earned her B.A. in communication studies from Vanderbilt University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in communication from the University of Maryland. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Dr. Madden was a full-time researcher at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).