@Sonya A. Grier, Ph.D. (Washington, DC) is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Kogod School of Business, American University. She conducts interdisciplinary research on topics related to the influence of social context on consumer response to targeted marketing efforts, and the societal impact of targeted marketing efforts (both commercial and social), within and across cultures and countries. In this research, she examines targeted marketing efforts which utilize both traditional and new media. She is the recipient of multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson foundation in support of her research. Previously, Dr. Grier was an in-house consultant at the Federal Trade Commission where she examined the target marketing of violent movies, music and video games to American youth, and has published her research in leading marketing, psychology, health policy and public health journals. She received her Ph.D. in Marketing, with a minor in Social Psychology, from Northwestern University in 1996. Dr. Grier also has an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, with an emphasis on marketing, non-profit management and international business. Her undergraduate degree is also from Northwestern University, with a major in Political Science.