James Katz

James E. Katz is the Feld Professor of Emerging Media Studies at Boston University’s College of Communication. Katz joined Boston University from Rutgers, where he held the title of Board of Governors Professor of Communication, the highest honor the university can bestow on a faculty member. At Rutgers, Katz served two terms as chair of the Department of Communication and much earlier received his doctoral degree from Rutgers Department of Sociology under the direction of Irving Louis Horowitz. 

Katz analyzes the uses and social consequences of emerging communication technologies, especially artificial intelligence and the Internet. He explores how they affect social interaction and what their uses reveal about human nature and organizations. His work has been cited more than 20,000 times, according to Google Scholar.

Among his books are “Magic in the Air: Mobile Communication and the Transformation of Social Life, Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, Expression” (with Ronald E. Rice) and “Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies”. He is author or co-author of over 70 peer-reviewed articles. He has won many awards, including the 2011 Ogburn Career Achievement Award from the American Sociological Association and the 2009 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Twentieth Century Communications History. He is a fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International Communication Association.