I am a scholar of rhetoric and writing in digital spaces. I have been intrigued by Internet culture and technologically mediated discourse ever since my days of LiveJournal Harry Potter roleplay. Because of my upbringing as a child of the internet, my research examines intersecting facets of identity—gender, sexuality, race, age, class, disability, religion—asking how these differences mediate our experiences with digital tools and interfaces, and in turn how those technologies influence the writing of our diverse selves.
I am Assistant Professor of Technical Communication in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I received my PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from Purdue University, and received bachelor’s degrees in Professional Writing and Women’s & Gender Studies and a master’s in Digital Rhetoric & Professional Writing, from Michigan State University. Go green and boiler up!
In summer 2026, I will…
- write…
- the final chapter on generational design for my monograph, Older Adults, Aging, and Technical Communication, based on my 2022 Computers and Composition Hugh Burns Award-winning dissertation, Digital Age: A Study of Older Adults’ User Experiences with Technology
- a scholarship of teaching and learning article on teaching risk communication through the local crisis case study of the 2024 Atlanta water main breaks
- teach…
- two sections of LMC 3206: Communication & Culture at Georgia Tech-Europe in Metz, France
- build…
- infrastructure for the ACM-SIGDOC Student Research Competition (SRC) with SRC Co-Chair Bradley Dilger (Purdue University), mentoring undergraduate and graduate students on developing their research to present at the 2026 conference in St. Paul, MN (October 23–24)
- a new 2000-level Introduction to Communication course, to pilot in Fall 2026, for Georgia Tech’s Bachelor of Science in Literature, Media, and Communication
Recently, I have presented on…
- “Jobs in English and Transdisciplinary Studies (JETS): Distributed mentoring frameworks for job market preparation” with Kailyn Shartel Hall (University of Tennessee at Martin), Marisa Yerace (Weber State University), Nasiba Norova (Metropolitan State University), Ghada Seifeddine, and Bradley Dilger (Purdue University), at the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) in Cleveland, OH (March 2026)
- “Community-Based Learning Meets Design Thinking: Tracing Collaboration with Nonprofits in Technical and Professional Communication Classes and a Student Social Impact Organization” (with Natasha Valluri, Georgia Tech MS-HCI student), at the ACM-SIGDOC Conference in Lubbock, TX (October 2025)
- “Against the Reading Response: Digital Meaning Making Through Social Annotation and Authentic Content Genres” (with Gavin P. Johnson, Texas Christian University), at the IEEE Professional Communication Society Conference in Sønderborg, Denmark (July 2025)
When I am not hastily typing or Photoshopping, I enjoy trying all of the different foods on Buford Highway, binge-watching British comedy on Netflix, collecting teapots, singing in a choir, and volunteering with the AARP Foundation.
Please feel free to contact me by email at allegra [at] gatech [dot] edu. I would love to have a conversation with you online.