She focuses on Latino media studies and teaches courses on cinema, television, and journalism. Prior to holding this post she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the USC Annenberg Center for Communication. While there she engaged in participant observations among media arts educators and high school youth in Los Angeles. She conducted home interviews with these students and their parents to better understand how digital media is used outside of school. Katynka is especially interested in how youth use digital media and create new works that are informed by their experiences navigating through densely populated urban areas of Los Angeles.