Refereed Conference Presentations, Guest Lectures, & Invited Talks

Otmar, C. D. & Merolla, A. J. (2024, February). Social determinants of message exposure and health anxiety among young sexual minority men in the United States during the 2022 Mpox outbreak. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the Western Communication Association, Reno, NV. Top Paper Award in Health Communication Division.

Otmar, C. D. & Merolla, A. J. (2023, November). Early relational exclusion and present-day minority stress, social anxiety, and coping responses among sexual minority men. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, National Harbor, MD. Top Four Paper Award in Interpersonal Division.

Otmar, C. D. & Ray, C.D. (2023, November). The loneliness of social anxiety: Testing three models of relational messages. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, National Harbor, MD.

Otmar, C. D., Fujiwara, K., & Dunbar, N. (2023, November). Breaking the rhythm: A theoretical exploration of interpersonal processes that disrupt nonverbal synchrony. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, National Harbor, MD.

Merolla, A. J., Neubauer, A., & Otmar, C. D. (2023, November). Responsive for a change: Reciprocal associations between responsive interaction and relational connection and indirect effects on changes in hope and life satisfaction. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, National Harbor, MD.

Otmar, C. D. (2023, February). Linking communication regret to mental health in daily life: An intensive longitudinal analysis on social anxiety. Paper presented at the Western Communication Association, Phoenix, AZ. Top Student Paper Award in Health Communication Division.

Otmar, C. D. (2023, February). How social anxiety shapes interpersonal interactions: A research agenda based on theories of stress and resilience. Paper presented at the Western Communication Association, Phoenix, AZ. Top Four Paper Award in Communication Theory Division.

Gao*, J. & Otmar, C. D. (2023, February). Does the tiny blue checkmark matter? Ritualized media use influences interpersonal perceptions of (un)verified social media accounts. Paper presented at the Western Communication Association, Phoenix, AZ. Top Paper Award at the Undergraduate Scholars Research Conference.

• * Undergraduate advisee​

Otmar, C. D. & Dunbar, N. E. (2022, November). Disrupted synchrony in the ecosystem of rapport: Linking social anxiety and social connection to interpersonal synchrony. Presented on the Contemporary Theorizing and Research on Nonverbal Synchrony Panel at the National Communication Association, New Orleans, LA.

Merolla, A. J., Otmar, C. D. & Salehuddin, A. (2022, November). Past relational experiences and daily social interaction: A replication and extension in two samples. Paper presented at the National Communication Association, New Orleans, LA. Top Four Paper Award in Interpersonal Division.

Fujiwara, K., Otmar, C. D., Dunbar N. E. & Hansia, M. (2022, November). Nonverbal synchrony in technology-mediated interviews: A cross-cultural study. Paper presented at the National Communication Association, New Orleans, LA. Top Paper Award in Japan-US Communication Division.

Otmar, C. D., & Do, K. (2022, May). Precarious labor and communication patterns in interpersonal relationships: An ecological model of labor and relational communication. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Paris, France.

Spitzberg, B. H., Otmar, C. D., & Canary, H. E. (2021, November). Programming the assessment or assessing the program: A standardized model for program assessment in communication. Paper presented at the National Communication Association, Seattle, WA.

Merolla, A. J., Otmar, C. D., & Ruvalcaba, C. (2021, November). Day-to-day relational life during the COVID-19 pandemic: Linking mental health, daily relational experiences, and end-of-day outlook. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Seattle, WA.

Afifi, T. D., Collins, N., Rand, K., Otmar, C. D., Mazur, A., Dunbar, N. E., Fujiwara, K., Harrison, K., & Logsdon, R. (2021, November). Using virtual reality to improve the quality of life of older adults with cognitive impairments and their family members who live at a distance. Paper presented at the National Communication Association, Seattle, WA.

Denault, V., Otmar, C. D., Dunbar, N. E., Hansia, M., & Cooren, F. (2021, November). Underlying deceptive strategies in group interaction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Seattle, WA.

Otmar, C. D., Merolla, A. J., & Hall, J. (2021, May). The link between difficult interpersonal communication episodes and current and later-in-the-day rumination. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Denver, CO.

Afifi, T. D., Collins, N., Rand, K., Fujiwara, K., Mazur, A., Otmar, C. D., Dunbar, N. E., Harrison, K., & Logsdon, R. (2021, May). Testing the feasibility of virtual reality with older adults with cognitive impairments and their family members who live at a distance. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Denver, CO. Top Paper Award in Interpersonal Communication Division.

Fujiwara, K., Bernhold, Q. S., Otmar, C. D., Hansia, M., & Dunbar, N. E. (2020, November). Manual vs automated synchrony coding: Comparing C-BAS coding to the cross-wavelet analysis in face-to-face conversation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Indianapolis, IN.

Kirkwood, G., Hansia, M., & Otmar, C. D., (2020, November). Who’s leading this dance? Theorizing strategic synchrony in human-machine interactions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Indianapolis, IN.

Afifi, T. D, Fujiwara, K., Dunbar, N. E. Otmar, C. D., & Mazur, A. (2020, November). Using computerized coding with OpenPose to capture engagement in virtual reality of residents’ who have dementia. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Indianapolis, IN.

Otmar, C. D., Ray, C. D., Spitzberg, B. H., & Negash, S. (2020, February). The influence of interpersonal patterns of forgiveness on relational resilience. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western Communication Association, Denver, CO.

Otmar, C. D. (2019, November). Toward a model of relational transgression dissolution. Paper presented at the National Communication Association, Baltimore, MD.

Ray, C. D., Floyd, K., Tietsort, C. J., Veluscek, A. M., Hashi, E. C., Otmar, C. D., & Fisher, R. (2019, February). Brief negative statements occurring within longer support messages result in lower message effectiveness and supporter competence ratings. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western Communication Association, Seattle, WA.

Otmar, C. D. (2019, February). Knowledge of the larger interactive system: A revival of systems thinking in interpersonal communication theory. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western Communication Association, Seattle, WA.

Otmar, C. D. (2019, January). Disciplinary organization and intellectual history in the public speaking classroom. Presented as the “Thought of the Day” at the Communication 103 Spring 2019 Orientation, San Diego, CA.

Otmar, C. D. (2018, November). Adaption as a hindrance to thriving: Theoretical explorations into the dark side of resilience. Paper presented at the “NCA Resilience Preconference” at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Salt Lake City, UT.

Otmar, C. D., Nabavi-Noori, A., Linnell, J. (2018, April). The exigency of an unobtrusive tool in nonverbal research: An initial proposal of the Nonverbal SourceApp. Paper presented on the panel “Studies in Interpersonal Communication” at the annual meeting of the Southwest Communication Association, Phoenix, AZ.

Otmar, C. D. (2018, April). Using the persuasive speech to understand scholarly conversations. Paper presented on the panel “Great Ideas for Teaching Speech” at the annual meeting of the Southwest Communication Association, Phoenix, AZ.

Otmar, C. D. (2016, May). The impact of student-faculty interaction outside the classroom and communication apprehension’s effect on student participation inside the classroom. Paper presented at the “Social and Behavioral Sciences Showcase” at the annual Festival of Scholars, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Otmar, C. D. (2015, April). A critical analysis of academic disciplines through interdisciplinary doctoral programs. Paper presented on the panel “Political Science Perspectives on Global Citizenship and Civic Engagement” at the annual Festival of Scholars, Thousand Oaks, CA.