Kaiping Chen

Kaiping Chen is an Associate Professor of Computational Communication in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is also affiliated with the Data Science Institute, the Department of Political Science, the Robert & Jean Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, the Center for East Asian Studies, the African Studies Program, the Wisconsin Energy Institute, the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and the Institute for Diversity Science. At UW–Madison, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on social media analytics and science communication research methods, including those in the Science Communication Ph.D. program.

As a science communication scholar with expertise in deliberative democracy and computational social science, Chen’s research advances theories in communication, political science, and computer and information sciences while addressing pressing societal challenges in public engagement with science and technology. Her work centers on two core questions: (1) what sociopolitical mechanisms drive inequities in science and technology communication, and (2) how can deliberation technologies empower communities to participate more fully in civic life?

Her research has been published in leading journals, including American Political Science Review, Journal of Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Public Opinion Quarterly, Public Understanding of Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). She has received several major awards, such as the Best Dissertation in Political Communication Award from the National Communication Association, the Kaid-Sanders Best Political Communication Article of the Year Award from the International Communication Association, and the Early Career Woman Scholar Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Chen’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, American Family Insurance, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. She also serves the field through professional leadership roles, including as International Liaison of the Computational Methods Division of the International Communication Association (2022–2024) and as Teaching Chair of the Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. 

Beyond academic research, Chen is committed to translating scholarship into practice. For more than 15 years, she has collaborated with local governments and community organizations in the U.S. and China to pilot innovative public engagement strategies that strengthen civic dialogue and democratic resilience. Her work has been featured by outlets such as Palo Alto Weekly in California and the Dane County Office of Energy and Climate Change Blog in Wisconsin. Her research has been cited by Science, Nature, PBS Wisconsin, Grist, and The Conversation. Chen was named as one of Wisconsin’s most influential Asian leaders in 2024. 

Chen holds a Ph.D. in Communication from Stanford University, a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Law from Fudan University. A full list of her publications is available on Google Scholar, and more information can be found at kaipingchen.com.