Ericka is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at American University. She earned her Ph.D. at Northwestern University in 2012, and previously worked as an Assistant Professor at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She has developed software to integrate the collection of web browsing trace data with other social science methods focusing on research ethics. She is writing a book on researching digital traces that advances a methodological approach to guide the technical and ethical development of trace data research. She applies these methods to study the intersection of political communication and digital media, specifically, selective exposure to political communication.