Dr. Buerkel-Rothfuss' interests are eclectic and frequently evolving. Her training was originally in advertising/public relations, family communication, and media socialization. She continues to be interested in family communication and is currently working on a textbook in that area. Dr. Buerkel-Rothfuss also published in the area of parental control over children's consumption of (and subsequent learning from) television and other media. Other interest areas include interpersonal relationship development and maintenance (affinity-seeking, secret tests, idiomatic communication), communication education and instructional communication (methods of instructional delivery, teacher immediacy, TA training), computer-mediated communication (the effects of sexually-explicit materials on "real life" interpersonal relationships and ways computer-mediated communication are changing human relationships), and cultural artifacts. My next project will be a description of roadside memorials from both the perspective of the grieving friends and relatives who erect them and the observers who resent their intrusion upon the American landscape.