SMSC professor Clara Bae left her home and career in South Korea to move to the United States to follow her passion and further her education.

Bae previously worked as a producer at a broadcasting company in South Korea where she created programs and public service announcements. Her work at the broadcasting company evoked her interest in learning more about the effectiveness of strategic campaigns on visual attention and audience perception.

Bae earned her doctorate from Michigan State University in Media and Information Studies in 2011. She realized she wanted to learn more about persuasion and strategic communications in an academic setting, which brought her to Oklahoma State University.

“I was looking for a marketing, advertising and communications program integrated together, and I couldn’t find this kind of program anywhere else,” Bae said.

Bae has quickly adjusted to life in Stillwater, Oklahoma. She enjoys the welcoming environment of OSU and the traditional qualities of downtown Main Street.

“When I arrived at Oklahoma State, there was a tender and warm welcoming feeling,” Bae said. “I was so happy when I visited here for the first time.”

Bae has introduced new research techniques to OSU. During her time as a producer, Bae found it necessary to learn more about persuasion expertise when creating public service announcements. One of the methods she has focused on is eye scanning. It is a method used to determine where people first look within an advertisement and how long they continue to view it.

“There is a small eye-tracking device, so you can just attach the eye tracker to a desktop, tablet or mobile device to track every single eye movement,” Bae said. “The eye tracker can trace where the eye is attracted to.”

The Paul Miller Journalism Building recently opened a new lab dedicated to this technique where students can help Bae with her research.

In addition to continuing her eye-scanning research, Bae hopes to focus on the perception of advertising and public relations messages.

“I am interested in studying how audience skepticism influences the message reception and the audience’s behavior,” Bae said.

Despite the concerns of her friends and family, Bae pursued her desire to further her studies and is finding success in her endeavors.

“My friends and family were telling me, ‘You’re crazy. It’s too late for you, and you’re too old,’” Bae said. “My only desire was to study more.”