Mengyu Li was finishing up her Master of Philosophy degree at Hong Kong Baptist University when she tuned in to the ongoing #MeToo global movement. The movement, which aimed to spread awareness of sexual abuse and harassment, created global change and sparked conversations around the world. Li was fascinated by this global act, and decided she would dedicate her research to political communication and media psychology.
At the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC), Li’s research agenda concerned how the structure of social media platforms shape the spread of conversations and activism around gender politics. And on Dec. 2, Li defended her Ph.D. dissertation, “Mapping Cross-Platform Communication Flows: A Computational Analysis of Gender Politics in Hybrid Media Ecology.”
“I was really nervous,” Li said. “I needed to wrap up everything in a short time and it was a really stressful period. Luckily, I finished it up on time and all my committee members were so kind and provided me so many useful comments.”
Back in 2020, Li was just beginning her Ph.D. program when the pandemic halted everything. No longer able to move to the United States from China, Li had to begin her Ph.D. program online. During the second year of her program, Li was relieved to find out she could move to Madison and continue her research efforts.
“For the whole first year, I was really worried about whether I could really do this,” Li said. “So I was really excited to be here for the second year, finally talk with somebody in person, and that’s also the time I met my partner.”
In addition to earning her Ph.D. degree, Li celebrated another deeply personal milestone. On Dec. 19, 2025, she and her longtime partner were able to tie the knot. That special date marked the anniversary of when their relationship started, and after four years, it’s now also the anniversary of their marriage. After meeting at UW-Madison the two have been able to support each other through their own respective Ph.D. programs.
“Whenever I feel really lonely or like my research isn’t going well, he’s always the person to support me, especially mentally,” Li said
Now, for the spring academic term, Li is able to join her partner at Rutgers University as a lecturer and research fellow. But the two aren’t stopping there. When the semester wraps up, the couple will swap snowstorms for sunshine, heading south to Florida for Li’s next academic chapter. At the University of Florida, Li will join the College of Journalism and Communications as a tenure-track assistant professor.
“I really learned a lot from the faculty members, especially my advisors, and other folks in the SJMC, and I hope to continue collaboration with them in the future. But I’m also really looking forward to starting to work as an independent researcher and establish my identity as a scholar,” Li said.
With three major life milestones unfolding within just weeks of each other, Li has earned herself a brief moment to pause. Still, she is already looking ahead. In the coming years, she hopes to expand her research into artificial intelligence and explore how emerging technologies shape attitude and behavior . Li carries forward the questions that first sparked her curiosity, continuing a career shaped by global movements, digital media and a commitment to understanding how ideas spread, how attention grows, and how digital media shape what people come to see and do.