Assistant Professor Miriam “Mimi” Brinberg is a co-investigator on a $3.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study teen digital dating abuse and mental health. The research tracks teens’ experiences with technology in their romantic relationships, aiming to provide new strategies to support mental wellness and encourage safer, healthier romantic relationships.
For Brinberg, securing this grant represents a significant professional milestone. The grant validates the value of work she does. It represents recognition in her field and a step forward in her career development.
Brinberg’s involvement in this research is the result of a series of connections that sparked her initial curiosity in communication studies. She completed her Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at The Pennsylvania State University.
“I was very fortunate that in graduate school, my advisor had this larger project and collaboration he was working on,” she said. “I think for me, a light bulb went off when I realized so much of our communication and interpersonal relationships are happening through technology.”
With her expertise and drive for understanding the evolving role of technology in interpersonal relationships, Brinberg is contributing to groundbreaking research that has the potential to make a positive impact on teen mental health.
“This grant came as part of a larger push for understanding social media among teens and its effects on mental health,” she said. “And we are so excited to be contributing to our understanding of social media and its effects.”
Brinberg uses digital trace data to pull conversations and other data points that might influence or reflect teen digital relationships in their everyday life.
Over the past five years since she received her doctorate, Brinberg’s research has been published in multiple journals, including Journal of Communication, Health Communication and Computers in Human Behavior.
In addition to her research role at Ohio State, Brinberg teaches both undergrad and graduate courses, like Communication and Decision Making and Social Implications of Communication Technology. She said her work in the classroom, alongside her research, is immensely rewarding, as she appreciates hearing her students’ ideas and perspectives.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with graduate students, so far,” she said. “Oftentimes you work with graduate students who have an overlap in what you want to do, but they are trying to find their own voice in their own way. It’s been really fun to help.”
Brinberg’s experiences, including her recent NIH grant, show the value of “keeping your eyes open and being willing to jump when you’re excited about something.”
Article by student Abby Amrine
