Hye Jin Lee is a clinical assistant professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Lee is also the founder and former editor of Books Aren’t Dead, a podcast series for Fembot that reviews and discusses recent publications by feminist scholars in the fields of media, communication, science and technology.

Lee holds a PhD in mass communication from University of Iowa, where she served as the managing editor of Journal of Communication Inquiry (JCI), a peer-reviewed academic journal that focuses on interdisciplinary scholarship in communication and cultural studies.

Lee’s primary research focuses on the cultural meanings of popular culture and the power struggles (as well as collaborations) between the industry and the fans in the creation of those cultural meanings. Lee’s current research includes the K-pop industry and global fandom, transformation of cultural meaning, status and content of popular culture when it crosses borders, convergence of social media and television, and the gendering of technology.