Joseph B. Walther holds the Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is a Distinguished Professor of Communication, and Director of the Center for Information Technology and Society. A Fulbright Scholar, Fellow of the International Communication Association, and Distinguished Scholar in the National Communication Association, his research focuses on the impact of interpersonal and intergroup dynamics in the attitudes and behaviors people develop via mediated interaction, in personal relationships, groups, and inter-ethnic conflict.