Miriam Brinberg, PhD, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences School of Communication, has earned The Ohio State University 2026 Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award. Senior leadership in the Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge recently surprised Brinberg with the honor.
“I'm happy to have the opportunity to do this research,” said Brinberg. “I want to thank my colleagues for their support and my students and collaborators for making this work possible.”
Brinberg’s research focuses on examining interpersonal interactions in everyday life and developing methods to better understand those interactions. The overarching theme of her research is describing the dynamics of interpersonal interaction – in face-to-face and computer-mediated contexts – and how those dynamics are associated with individual and relational characteristics.
“Even though your work is specialized, you’ve created methods that can be used in many fields,” said Cynthia Carnes, senior associate vice president for research. “You have furthered knowledge through an understanding of interaction dynamics using longitudinal methods while making longitudinal approaches accessible to all researchers.”
“In reading some of your work, there's intellectual creativity and a boldness that I think really sets you apart,” said Divisional Dean for Social and Behavioral Sciences Ryan King. “I think you've done that methodologically, which allows you to approach problems in ways that others haven't. And it takes a little bit of principle sometimes to say, Hey, the status quo is not working. Let's look at this from a different angle. And I really respect that you do that.
School of Communications Director R. Kelly Garrett added, “In a very short time at Ohio State, you have built a research program that is methodologically innovative and well-funded. Faculty and graduate students alike have commented on your ability and willingness to translate your methods expertise in ways that others can understand and benefit from. This commitment is already strengthening the intellectual culture of the school and the college.”
In her work, Brinberg applies and advances traditional dyadic methods and work with intensive longitudinal data from interactions in the lab, ecological momentary assessments and unobtrusive digital monitoring (e.g., long sequences of temporally ordered screenshots, text messages). Ultimately, the goal is to shed light on the “black box” of conversations and daily interpersonal interactions that are central to consequential interpersonal processes. Brinberg earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and her master’s and doctorate degrees in Human Development & Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University.
The Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award is among the highest annual honors awarded at Ohio State. The university-level award honors three to four faculty members who demonstrate scholarly activity, conduct research or creative works that represent exceptional achievements in their fields and garner distinction for the university.
Award recipients are nominated by their departments and chosen by a committee of senior faculty, including past award recipients. Early Career Distinguished Scholars receive an honorarium and a research grant to be used over the next three years.
Quotes from Brinberg’s nomination:
“To be candid, Dr. Brinberg is one of the strongest quantitative methodologists in the communication discipline…Dr. Brinberg has pioneered the dynamic dyadic systems approach to studying interpersonal communication as turn-by-turn conversational exchanges. Her application of dyadic time series and state space grid analyses allows an innovative way to model speaking turns in conversations with intensive longitudinal data. The dynamic dyadic systems approach is a cutting-edge methodology, and I believe it could be paradigm shifting, in terms of how interpersonal communication could (should) be studied. I consider the dynamic dyadic systems approach to be one of the most important innovations in studying close relationships.” Alan K. Goodboy, West Virginia University.
“Dr. Brinberg is one of the most promising emerging scholars we have in the Communication discipline. Her work involving research methods has given our field new tools that make it possible to answer longstanding questions about how dyads and groups communicate. It is not hyperbole to say that she has already made the kind of contribution to our field that many scholars would be thrilled to make over their entire career. I cannot think of another scholar who has accomplished so much this early in their career.” Steve Rains, University of Arizona.
“Although her contributions so far have mainly been methodological, her expertise in dynamic dyadic systems, within-person change processes, and intensive longitudinal modeling is on the cutting edge of communication research and might be crucial to the next generation of theory testing and development, in all areas of communication, not just interpersonal communication or media effects research, because these methods are critical for testing and establishing causal inferences. I will not be surprised at all to see Dr. Brinberg continue to collaborate with other colleagues and help them in novel and creative ways to test and develop communication theories, do that on her own as she becomes more established in the field of communication, and continue to receive internal and external research grants.” Lijiang Shen, Pennsylvania State University.