Advertising welcomes new Assistant Professor Jacob Fisher

Jacob Fisher, a new assistant professor in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, has always been interested in technology design and the way it influences people’s attention. He said he wanted to come to UIUC because it’s very strong in computation, neuroscience, and brain imaging. 

“It really is a great fit for me when it comes to researching attention, memory, and emotion. These sorts of processes are kind of at the heart of advertising research and advertising practice,” Fisher said.

Fisher will be teaching ADV 283: Advertising and Brand Strategy online this fall. He said in the future, he would also like to teach a course on computational advertising, as well as a course on advertising and cognition. 

He said he will be doing extensive research with the Beckman Institute and looking at designing technologies that are better for attention and will help avoid distraction. This research will then look into how this information can be used to create more effective PSAs.

He will also be collaborating with the Siebel Center for Design and the Neuroscience Program.

“The Beckman Institute has a really great brain imaging center and there are several neuroscience researchers on campus whose work I greatly respect within the domain of attention and perception,” Fisher said. “And this is all in addition to the College of Media and Department of Advertising, where there are several people who are already doing research that’s very similar to what I do.”

He will be collaborating closely with advertising professors including Brittany Duff, Kevin Wise, Ewa Maslowska, Harsh Taneja, and department head Mike Yao. 

Fisher added that he’s particularly excited about coming to the university due to its strengths in research and teaching. 

“Champaign-Urbana is just a great area that we’re excited to be living in,” Fisher said.

Before coming to UIUC, Fisher was a PhD candidate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he conducted research in the Media Neuroscience Lab, and taught Cognitive Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience courses. He completed his BA and MA at Texas Tech University, where he conducted research in the Cognition and Emotion Lab, and taught Writing for Media and Communication.

—Story by Marissa Plescia, Communications and Marketing Intern; photo by Madeline Wilson (BS '20, Journalism)