Ronald Yaros

Ronald Yaros is an associate professor of digital engagement at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, director of the Digital Engagement Lab, and an affiliate associate professor at the University of Maryland's College of Information. He is a Tow-Knight Disruptive Educator for Journalism Innovation and Entrepreneurship, an Apple Distinguished Educator, and a recipient of the campus-wide Excellence in Teaching Award from the UMD Office of Undergraduate Studies. He is also an Apple and Google Play developer, producing an app for Merrill College's Capital News Service.

Since 2008, Yaros’ work has focused on the micro-level processes people use to seek, select and share digital information produced by humans or artificial intelligence. His collaborations with students and newsrooms such as USA Today and The Baltimore Sun addressed a central challenge: how to sustain attention amid users’ limited time and varying environments.

Yaros is the author of "The Digital Engagement Model: How to Capture and Keep Audience Attention." The book details an evidence-based framework for designing content that aligns engagement with real-world constraints on attention. His research advances new strategies for simultaneously engaging traditional target audiences and incidental users who encounter content unexpectedly.

His interdisciplinary research has appeared in three book chapters and in Frontiers in Media Psychology, Communication Research, Science Communication, News Research Journal, Health, Culture and Society, Innovative Higher Education, and the International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning. In 2025, Yaros became a co-faculty investigator on a $1.9 million National Science Foundation Belmont Forum grant to the UMD School of Public Health for Awareness Against Health Threats of Extreme Weather Events to design a mobile health news app for testing in eight countries.

Before earning his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Yaros was an Emmy Award-winning broadcast meteorologist and science reporter, and later served as president of a national educational software company.

Curriculum Vitae

Publications

Book
Digital Engagement Model: How to Capture and Keep Audience Attention. (2026) Springer Nature / Palgrave Macmillan’s Practical Guides in Communication. 

Book Chapters
Yaros, Ronald A. (2013). Attention Versus Learning of Online Content. In Robert Zheng (Ed.) Evolving Psychological and Educational Perspectives on Cyber Behavior, 132-155. Information Science Reference, IGI Global.

Yaros, Ronald A. (2012). Social Media and Education: Do Personalization and Interactivity Facilitate Learning? In H.S. Noor Al-Deen, J.A. Hendricks (Eds.), Social Media: Usage And Impact, 57-74. Lexington Books.

Yaros, Ronald A. (2009). Producing Citizen Journalism or Producing Journalism for Citizens? A New Multimedia Model to Enhance Understanding of Complex News. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.) Journalism and Citizenship: New Agendas in Communication, 1-90. New York, NY: Routledge Publishing.

Refereed Publications
Md Main Uddin Rony, Ronald A. Yaros & Naeemul Hassan. (2025). Can Honest Headlines Engage? Correcting Misleading Headlines to Improve Credibility, Comprehension, and Engagement. In Proceedings of the 2025 17th International Conference on Social Networks Analysis and Mining [acceptance rate 20%] (Designed research methodology and data collection methods.) Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, August 25-28.

Yaros, Ronald A. (2025). All Bets Are On: Obsession, Engagement, and Moral Tension in Sports Betting Behavior, Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1608414 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1608414

Dinfin Mulupi, Frankie H.C. Wong, & Ronald A. Yaros (2024). Investigating Effects of A Physician’s Race and Gender on User Engagement and Perceived Credibility of COVID Vaccine News. News Research Journal, 46(1), 96-117. https://doi.org/10.1177/07395329241298966

Yaros, Ronald A. & John Misak, (2020). Completing College Writing Assignments on Mobile Phones: Comparing Students’ Attitudes and Engagement Across Disciplines and Age, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 76(2), 216-227. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077695820942422

Aldoory, L., Yaros, Ronald A., Prado, A., Roberts, E., & Briones, R. L. (2016). Piloting health text messages for rural low-income mothers: Effects of source similarity and simple action steps, Health Promotion Practice, 15(5), 702-710.

Yaros, Ronald A., Roberts, J., Powers, E., & Steiner, S. (2015). Serving the Needs of the Latina Community, Health, Culture & Society, 8(1), 20-33.

Yaros, Ronald A., Powers, E, & Oh, S.K. (2014). Reporting a New Cancer Risk: Analyzing Online Coverage of the World Health Organization’s Announcement About Possible Dangers from Cell Phones, News Research Journal, 35(1), 96-107.

Powers, E. & Yaros, Ronald A. (2013). Cultivating Support for Nonprofit News Organizations: Commitment, Trust, and Donating Audiences, Journal of Communication Management, 17(2), 157-170.

Yaros, Ronald A. (2012). Effects of Mobile Devices and Text Messages: A Multi-Study Design to Explore a Model for Mobile Learning in Introductory Journalism, International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology & Learning, (2) 3, 59-72.

Powers, E. & Yaros, Ronald A. (2012). Supporting Online Nonprofit News Organizations: Do Financial Contributions Influence Stakeholder Expectations and Engagement? Journal of Media Business Studies, 9(3), 41-62.

Yaros, Ronald A., Cook, Anne (2011). Attention versus Learning of Online Content: Preliminary Findings from an Eye-Tracking Study, International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology & Learning, (1) 4, 49-69.

Yaros, Ronald A. (2011). Effects of A Text and Hypertext Structures on User Interest and Understanding of Science and Technology, Science Communication, 33 (3), 275-308.

Crone, W., Dunwoody, S., Rediske, R., Ackerman, S., Zenner-Peterson, G., & Ronald A. Yaros (2011). Informal Science Education: A Practicum for Graduate Students, Innovative Higher Education, 36 (5), 291-304.

Yaros, Ronald A. (2006). Is it the Medium or the Message? Structuring Complex News to Enhance Engagement and Situational Understanding by Non-Experts, Communication Research, 33 (4), 285-309.

Nelson, Michelle R., Ronald A. Yaros, and Heejo Keum (2006). Examining the Influence of Telepresence on Spectator and Player Processing of Real and Fictitious Brands in a Computer Game, Journal of Advertising, 35 (4), Winter 2006, 87-99.

Wood, Michelle, R. Nelson, Jaeho Cho, and Ronald A. Yaros (2004). Tonight’s Top Story: Commercial Content in Television News, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81 (4), 807-822.

Nelson, Michelle, R. Heejo Keum, and Ronald A. Yaros (2004). Advertainment or Ad Creep? Game Players’ Attitudes Toward Advertising and Product Placement in Computer Games, Journal of Interactive Advertising, 5 (1), 3-21.

Research Interests

I design and test new strategies to reach diverse digital audiences who scan, search or read content. This work requires rethinking how information is produced as today’s younger mobile-first generations become tomorrow’s news consumers. I am particularly interested in how non-experts process important yet complex scientific and health news.

Drawing on principles and theory from cognitive psychology, human-computer interaction and information science, I apply interdisciplinary approaches to journalism to develop and test a Digital Engagement Model. This model examines how users’ “Digital DIET” — their demographics, interests, environment and available time — shapes interactions with multimedia content and influences attention, comprehension and sustained engagement.

Expertise

Digital storytelling structures for engagement
Mobile journalism and social media strategies
Explanatory photos, data and video
Science and health journalism
Research methods (quantitative and qualitative)
Blended and virtual teaching and learning

Awards

(2025) Authorized TikTok Researcher
(2023) Donna Hamilton, “Excellence in Teaching in General Education,” Office of Undergraduate Studies
(2019) Know Your Audience: Strategies for increasing reach and engagement of your journalism, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
(2018) A Tow-Knight Disruptive Educator for Journalism Innovation and Entrepreneurship
(2017) A national Apple Distinguished Educator
(2015) University Teaching, John’s Hopkins University
(2012) University of Maryland Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate General Education
(2012) University of Maryland Lilly Fellow
(2011) Designing Blended Courses & Building A Blended Community, Sloan Consortium
(2011) University of Maryland Blended Teaching Fellow
(2010) Certificate in Blended (Hybrid) Teaching and Learning Techniques, Sloan Consortium of Institutions & Organizations
(2009) Presidential Citation for Outstanding Service & Dedication, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
(2005) Eason Award for Excellence in Communication Research, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
(1986) Emmy Award, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
(1985) Emmy Award, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
(1983) Emmy Award, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

Affiliations

Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC)
AEJMC’s COMsher (Communication of Science, Health, Environment & Risk Division)
Association of Internet Researchers
Online News Association
International Communication Association

Courses Taught

Understanding Audiences
Quantitative Methods of Journalism Research
I-series course: Information 3.0