Melissa Brough, who completed her Ph.D. in Communication from USC Annenberg in 2014, was recognized with the Gerald R. Miller Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from the National Communication Association for her dissertation, "Participatory Public Culture and Youth Citizenship in the Digital Age: The Medellín Model." Her dissertation advisors were Sarah Banet-Weiser, the Director of the School of Communication, and Manuel Castells, University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology and Society.

Dr. Brough is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Irvine.