Rick Wash is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University in the Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media, and in the School of Journalism. He completed his PhD at the School of Information at the University of Michigan. Prior to studying information, Rick completed his masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan, and his bachelors degree in Computer Science from Case Western Reserve University. He currently works on understanding motivations for participating in online social media systems, and designing social media systems that influence behavior.