She received her Ph.D. degree in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations and Information and Media Studies (IMS) program at Michigan State University. Her research mainly focuses on consumer psychology, marketing communications, and media & advertising effects in the social media context. Her research primarily applies experimental methods using self-reported, eye-tracking, psychophysiological, and behavioral measures. She received her B.A. in Journalism from the School of Journalism and Communication at Wuhan University of China, and her M.S. degree from the E. W. Scripps school of Journalism at Ohio University.