Charles Steinfield is a professor and chairperson of the Department of Telecommmunication, Information Studies, and Media at Michigan State University. He holds a B.A. in Communication from Michigan State University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication Theory and Research from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. In addition to his faculty position, Steinfield participates with the MSU Eli Broad College of Business Information Technology Management Program and is a member of the campus-wide Faculty of Computing and Information. He is also a research associate in the Quello Center for Telecommunications Management and Law at MSU and a Faculty Associate for the MSU College of Law Intellectual Property and Communications Law Program.
Professor Steinfield's research focuses on the organizational and social impacts of new communication technologies, with recent projects examining the social capital implications of online social network sites, understanding barriers to industry-wide diffusion to e-commerce standards, and the role of ICTs in economic development.
He has been a visiting professor and researcher at a number of institutions in the U.S. and in Europe. These include the Institut National des Telecommunications in France, Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, Bellcore, and the Telematica Instituut in the Netherlands. He has also taught courses for the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration in their annual summer Interactive Telecommunications Programs and was a summer visiting researcher at the French national telecommunications research laboratory, CNET. He is a recipient of MSU's Distinguished Faculty and Teacher-Scholar Awards, and was awarded a nine-month Fulbright research grant to study information services usage in France.