Liesel Sharabi

Dr. Liesel Sharabi studies how communication technologies are used in mate selection and relationship development. Her work uses advanced quantitative methods (e.g., multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling, machine learning) to understand the ways technology reveals and transforms basic principles of interpersonal communication. A primary goal of her research program is to better understand how people relate to each other online and what it means for their offline relationships.

She is especially interested in technology’s role in modern romance. Much of her research is on the topic of dating apps. She has written about matchmaking on dating apps and studied the trajectories of online relationships from meeting through marriage. She regularly advises, consults, and collaborates with dating app startups and has given expert testimony in legal cases involving dating app platforms. She is also interested in where relationships could be headed in the future. This has led to research on mixed-media relationships, the role of algorithms and AI in facilitating intimate relationships, and relationships in AR/VR. As part of her work on the latter, she is an invited scholar for Dreamscape Learn, where she conducts research on educational and relational applications of AR/VR.

She is Vice Chair of the Interpersonal Communication Division of the International Communication Association. She is also an associate editor for the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships in addition to sitting on multiple editorial boards. Her research has been published in dozens of edited volumes and peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Research, Communication Monographs, New Media & Society, and the Harvard Data Science Review. 

She blogs about her research in "Dating in the Digital Age" for Psychology Today and has appeared in media outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Boston Globe, Time Magazine, the BBC, CNN, WIRED, and NPR. She received the 2022 Early Career Award from the Interpersonal Communication Division of the National Communication Association.

Dr. Sharabi directs the Relationships and Technology Lab and co-directs the Modern Love Collective at Arizona State University.