Ellen Wartella researches the effects of media and technology on children and adolescents, and the impact of food marketing in the childhood obesity crisis. She is the Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. She holds courtesy appointments in the Department of Psychology, Department of Human Development and Social Policy, and Department of Medical Social Sciences. The author or editor of 12 books and approximately 200 book chapters, research articles, technical reports, and research papers, Dr. Wartella is currently co-Principal Investigator on a five-year multi-site research project entitled: “Collaborative Research: Using Educational DVDs to Enhance Young Children’s STEM Education" (2014-2019) from the National Science Foundation. She is editor of Social Policy Reports, a journal of the Society for Research in Child Development. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Psychological Society, and the International Communication Association. She is past President of the International Communication Association. She received the Steven H. Chaffee Career Productivity Award and the B. Aubrey Fisher Mentorship Award from the ICA, the Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Communication Association, and the Krieghbaum Under 40 Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. In 2017, she received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from St. Vincent College.