Jason Schmitt concentrates his research on online education impacting a global audience, open access relating to academic publications, and media industry future trends. He is a regular contributor to Forbes, The Huffington Post, EdSurge, andSlate and is a regular on news outlets and radio for expert opinions revolving around societal implications associated with new media trends.  

Schmitt is involved in providing insight and leadership toward startup companies in the digital space and, in 2015, judged over 1000 startup pitches and business models for venture capital funding. His research has been presented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the American University of Paris, and the University of St. Andrews and many conferences associated with media, communication, and documentary production.

He was the interviewer/field producer for the documentary, "Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story," a film on historic rock venue The Grande Ballroom and its influence on rock and roll music. The film was awarded an Emmy in 2016 and has been to over 35 festivals from Detroit to LA and London to Australia. In 2015, Schmitt also created a full length archery focused DVD for F&W Media and several online shareable videos for Field & Stream.

Schmitt recently received a grant from the Open Society Foundation to focus on a documentary on the lucrative nature of academic publishing and need for open access to research. The documentary, Paywall: The Business of Scholarship, will be released in September, 2018.

He has interviewed a long list of celebrities, including rock stars Alice Cooper, Ben Folds, Roger Daltrey, Kid Rock, and Slash; authors Neil Gaiman and Dan Fagan; and billionaires such as Dan Gilbert, owner of Quicken Loans and Alfred Taubman a real estate developer. His dissertation, “Like the Last 30 Years Never Happened: Understanding Detroit Rock Music Through Oral History,” and the associated 30+ hours of oral history interview recordings are archived and part of the permanent collection at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH.

Before coming to Clarkson, Schmitt was associate professor and program director of communication studies and co-director of the documentary studies program at Green Mountain College in Vermont.