Erezi Ogbo-Gebhardt

Dr. Erezi Ogbo-Gebhardt is an assistant professor in Information Science and the program director of Online and Extended Studies at the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS). She is a nationally recognized digital inclusion scholar. She uses mixed methods to investigate the socio-economic and socio-technological factors that impact broadband and digital technology acceptance, use, and impact of use, predominantly among marginalized populations and communities often underrepresented in technology research. Her work also evaluates the broader impact of digital inclusion initiatives (e.g., subsidized broadband or digital literacy training) on the recipients.

In 2014, Ogbo-Gebhardt was recognized as a promising young scholar by the Federal Government of Nigeria and awarded the Presidential Special Scholarship for Innovation and Development. She received the 2022 Charles Benton Early Career Scholar Award for her paper evaluating the Alabama Broadband Connectivity for Students program (the only digital inclusion initiative in the US administered using direct-to-consumer vouchers). She also received the 2022 Pacific Telecommunications Young Scholar Award for her work investigating the impact of broadband pricing policies on broadband use in Nigeria.

Dr. Ogbo-Gebhardt earned a Ph.D. and an MSc. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University in 2019 and 2017, respectively, an MSc. in Management and Information Technology from the University of St Andrews, Scotland, in 2013, and a B.Tech. in Information Technology from Bells University of Technology, Nigeria, in 2011. Before joining the faculty at NCCU, she was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Southern California, where she reviewed existing research on the effectiveness of digital inclusion initiatives and built analytical models to evaluate the effectiveness of digital inclusion initiatives and inform broadband policymaking.