James E. Katz, Ph.D., is chair of the Department of Communication at Rutgers University where he also directs the Center for Mobile Communication Studies. His present focus is on how personal communication technologies, such as mobile phones and the Internet, affect social relationships and how cultural values influence usage patterns of these technologies. Currently he heads an NSF-sponsored project with the New Jersey Liberty Science Center museum to investigate ways to stimulate teens from urban environments to use mobile communication technology for informal science and health learning.

Professor Katz has devoted his career to exploring the relationship among the domains of science and technology, knowledge and information, and social processes and public policy. He has been granted two patents and has won several awards including the 2009 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Twentieth Century Communications History, which will take him to Italy, as well as Bellcore’s Distinguished Member of Staff Award, a Mellon Foundation Scholar award, and the Distinguished Scholar Award of the Society for the Social Study of Mobile Communication. Katz is also the author of more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles. His books, which include Magic in the Air: Mobile Communication and the Transformation of Social Life and Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, Expression, have been translated into Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. His latest book, published by MIT Press, is Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies.

In terms of public outreach, Katz is frequently interviewed by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and has appeared many times on network evening news programs and PBS NewsHour. He also serves on the boards of several organizations and professional journals.