What’s New!

RCRG strengthens trans-Atlantic partnerships at SRA-Europe UK Chapter 

  • October 2024: Katherine and Dominic presented two GEOHUB papers on public views about deep geothermal, participated in a panel, and caught up with GEOHUB colleagues at the recently revived UK Chapter of SRA-Europe in London.

New publication in Risk Analysis

Great week at Storymakers 2024

  • June 2024: Katherine spent a memorable week on Catalina Island, CA, meeting new colleagues and learning new science communication skills participating in USC Wrigley Institute’s Storymakers program.

Storymakers fellows and instructors

Ithaca Thirsty Bear to bid fond farewell to two RCRG members

  • As Cat and Aly leave Cornell to start new assistant professor positions at Northeastern University and the National University of Singapore, respectively, we gathered to celebrate all the great risky times we have shared together! We couldn’t be collectively prouder of their successes.

Aly successfully defends her PhD and graduates: Congratulations Dr. Leong!

From NPCC4: Thanks Risk Communication Research Group!

Gracie Mansion in the background

  • April 2024: The New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) released its fourth assessment on April 29, projecting rises in temperature, precipitation, and sea level. Katherine  was an NPCC4 panel member and attended the release event on April 26 at Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the NYC mayor. Members of Cornell’s Risk Communication Research Group helped draft plain language summaries of each of the chapters and are acknowledged in the final assessment.

New publication in Human Dimensions of Wildlife

Source: Cornell Chronicle

RCRG heads to SRA Annual Meeting in Washington DC

Stopping for a stretch in Pennsylvania

  • December 2023: Cornell took to the road and had a fantastic showing at SRA’s Annual Meeting in DC. Members contributed to multiple roundtable discussions on topics like attenuated risk, equity in risk communication, and the future of risk analysis, as well as presented research on perceptions of the “deep underground” and chronic wasting disease. Perhaps the riskiest event of all was the van ride from Ithaca to DC and back.

RCRG research in the news

Source: Cornell Chronicle

 

  • November 2023: The lead ammunition research project makes headlines in the Cornell Chronicle, which developed a feature-length article and video telling the story.

Dominic Balog-Way elected as the inaugural Chair of the Board for SRA’s Strategic Endowment Fund

  • September 2023: Dominic Balog-Way was elected as the inaugural Chair of the Board for the Society for Risk Analysis’s (SRA) Strategic Endowment Fund. The Board is responsible for overseeing the Society’s strategic investment portfolio (‘The Fund’), proactively identifying new strategic initiatives that seek to advance the Society’s mission, and using investment income to fund those initiatives. As inaugural Chair, Dominic is responsible for ensuring the continued functioning and operations of the Board and Fund, and pursuing a strategic vision for funding high-quality initiatives.

RCRG well-represented at SRA Europe in Lund, Sweden

Thirsty Bear at SRA-E in Lund, Sweden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations!

  • May 2023: Rebekah wins the 2023 Amanda L. Kundrat Thesis of the Year Award from the Health Communication Divisions of ICA and NCA. Way to go, Rebekah!

GEOHUB goes live!

Sign for our KCL meeting

  • In Spring 2023, Dominic, Cat, and Katherine were awarded a seed grant to establish GEOHUB, a trans-Atlantic deep geothermal energy research collaboration between Cornell, Edinburgh University, and King’s College London. All three universities contributed funds to support this collaboration through Cornell’s Global Hubs initiative. The team also was awarded a research grant from Cornell’s Center for the Social Sciences to support a cross-national survey comparing US and UK views about deep geothermal. In May, we held our inaugural meeting in London and Edinburgh, bring together scientists and policy makers to discuss the promises and perils of deep geothermal development.

GEOHUB attendees at KCL

 

After dinner for Edinburgh GEOHUB attendees and guests

 

New NSF award

Congratulations to Aly on her recently awarded NSF dissertation enhancement grant from SBE’s Decision, Risk, and Management Sciences division, “The impact of normative influence on competitively framed risks on social media.” We expect dynamic things from you, Aly! 🙂

Congratulations!

Cat and her PhD Special Committee members

  • March 2023: Cat Lambert successfully defended her PhD. Way to go, Dr. Lambert!

Grant Update

Chapter in “just-released” 2nd ed. of the Routledge Handbook of Environment and Communication

  • February 2023: Katherine McComas with James Shanahan (Indiana U) and Mary Beth Deline (Illinois State U) contributed an updated chapter to this new volume, entitled “Representations of the Environment on Television, and Their Effects.”

Rebekah Wicke wins the SRA Risk Communication Specialty Group Student Paper Award!

  • December 2022: Congratulations, Rebekah, on your award-winning paper, entitled “Investigating the influence of preprints in COVID-19 news coverage on vaccine booster intentions.”

Risk Communication Forum Live, Tampa Press Club

  • December 2022: Following the SRA Annual Meeting, RCRG member Dominic Balog-Way led a meeting co-organized with RCRG alum Laura Rickard to discuss the current state and future directions of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary risk communication research and practice. This half-day event drew participants from multiple countries and disciplines who engaged in a lively conversation.

Dominic Balog-Way demonstrates the breadth of fields represented at the meeting.

Attendees of the Risk Communication Forum Live event at the Tampa Press Club

RCRG members enjoying the view at the Tampa Press Club

RCRG members present research at SRA Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida, December 2022

  • As usual, RCRG members were very active at the recent SRA Annual Meeting, presenting posters, hosting roundtables, participating in panels, and organizing and sharing research in symposia. It was fantastic to be back in person and catch up with old friends and colleagues in Tampa, Florida.

Chris Tran shares research on risk regulation on lead in game meat

Aly Leong shares research evaluating a risk communication video on lead ammunition

Katherine McComas wins risk communication award

  • December 2022: The Risk Communication Specialty Group of the Society for Risk Analysis awarded Katherine its annual Excellence in Risk Communication Research and Practice Award, which recognizes a group member’s “outstanding contribution…during the previous calendar year to the scholarship and/or practice of risk communication.”

New publication in Energy Research & Social Science

 

 

 

6th International Human-Bear Conflicts Workshop

  • October 2022: Katherine McComas was a featured speaker at this workshop, presenting a talk entitled, “Influencing Human Behavior Towards Bears Through Risk Communication.”

New publication in New Media & Society

 

Tour of Cornell University’s Borehole Observatory (CUBO)

  • August 18: Katherine McComas got up close and personal with CUBO, where Cornell is drilling an exploratory borehole to test the temperatures of the rock deep beneath the Earth’s surface. This research will help determine whether heating campus is feasible using deep geothermal energy (“Earth Source Heat”). This could be a real win for Cornell’s carbon neutrality goals and regions seeking to use deep geothermal in areas that have not traditionally developed this technology. Our group has been researching the social aspects of this technology. See the papers and presentations that members of the Risk Communication Research Group have authored on the public perception of deep geothermal.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) research shared at Third International Conference on Energy Research and Social Science, Manchester UK

  • June 19-22: Cat Lambert and Katherine McComas met EGS collaborator, Julia Cousse (University of Geneva, Switzerland), in Manchester, where Cat and Julia presented research on public views of deep geothermal. Cat’s presentation focused on her dissertation research, and Julia presented findings from our U.S.-Swiss survey on public views. It was the first time we had all met in person and first research trip post-Covid-19 lockdowns.

Cat presenting her research at ERSS meeting.

Julia, Cat, and Katherine taking some time to enjoy a local pub.

Impromptu “Thirsty Bear” as we encountered RCRG alums, Chris Clarke and Darrick Evensen, with another Cornell alum, Jeffrey Jacquet, at ERSS meeting.

Aly Leong  successfully defends her “A exam” and advances to candidacy in the PhD program

  • May 20, 2022: Congratulations, Aly!

New publication in Natural Hazards

Webinar for New York State regulators

  • March 2022: Dominic Balog-Way delivered a talk to New York State regulators, including representatives from the Department of Environmental Conservation, Health, and Agriculture & Markets. In the webinar, hosted by the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab, Dominic explains why and how risk communication effectiveness could be significantly improved if practitioners adopt a more strategic and evidence-based approach.

ABSTRACT: Communicating about risks to health, safety, and the environment is challenging. Although there have been notable successes, history is replete with examples of communication missteps and failures. Many well-meaning efforts have caused unintended negative effects, or, worse, boomeranged, generating the opposite effects of what was intended. Drawing on decades of interdisciplinary research, Dominic explains why and how risk communication effectiveness would be significantly improved if practitioners adopted a more strategic and evidence-based approach. He first explains what such an approach entails, including the importance of choosing clear goals and evaluating messages throughout the process. Next, he discuss the key components of strategic risk communication that all effective practitioners must consider carefully. These are highlighted with environmental protection and public health sector examples, ranging from lead ammunition poisoning and chronic wasting disease, to smoking, underage drinking, and COVID-19. He concludes by providing concrete recommendations on how practitioners can become more strategic and resist the temptation of relying on intuition and unproven traditional practices.

Congratulations!!

  • March 2022: Congratulations Dr. Josephine Martell on your successful defense of your dissertation examining  how different ways of framing messages can influence conservation decision-making and subsequent political behavior!

USDA NIFA Hatch Grant awarded 

  • September 2021: Katherine McComas, Dominic Balog-Way, Krysten Schuler (CVM), Katie Fiorelli (CVM), and Jeanne Coffin-Schmitt (CVM) received funds in support of a new three-year project, Using Risk Communication to Reduce Exposure to Lead in Wild Game Consumption.

Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability Rapid Research Fund Award

  • September 2021: Katherine McComas, Cat Lambert, and Dominic Balog-Way were awarded a new research grant to support a new international collaboration on attitudes toward deep geothermal energy with Drs. Evelina Trutnevyte and Julia Cousse at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. The funds will be used to conduct the following survey: A Cross-National Comparison of U.S. and Swiss Attitudes toward Deep Geothermal Energy.

NSF Dissertation Grant awarded

  • August 2021: Cat Lambert was awarded an NSF Dissertation Improvement grant for her project, entitled “A Case Study of Enhanced Geothermal Systems: The Interaction of Imaginaries of Place and Energy for Renewable Energy Transitions.”

Keynote presentation at the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIEHS) 

New publication in Sustainability

Presentation at the Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies

March 2021: Dominic Balog-Way presented at the Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies (Lund, Sweden) for an international workshop on ‘The Need for Social Science in Radon Risk Communication‘. Dominic’s talk was based on Katherine McComas, and John Besley’s recent paper published in Risk Analysis reviewing ‘The Evolving Field of Risk Communication‘.

New publication in Renewable Energy

New publication in Risk Analysis

New publication in Risk Analysis

New publication in Conservation Biology

Josephine Martell  successfully defends her “A exam” and advances to candidacy in the PhD program

  • October 1, 2020: Congratulations, Josephine!

New publication in Human Dimensions of Wildlife

 

 

 

 

 

RCRG launches the first Risk Communication Forum

  • September 30, 2020: The RCRG officially launched the first online Risk Communication Forum.
  • The forum is currently held monthly and seeks to bring together our dispersed academic community of risk communication friends and colleagues.
  • If you have any questions or would like to become a forum member, please contact Dominic Balog-Way (db729@cornell.edu).
  • More information and meeting details can be found on our new tab.

Goals of the Risk Communication Forum

 

 

New publication in Drug Safety

New publication in New Media & Society

 

 

Cat Lambert successfully defends her “A exam” and advances to candidacy in the PhD program

  • June 2020: Congratulations, Cat!

Jason Holley completes his dissertation and passes his “B exam”

  • June 2020: Congratulations, Dr. Holley!

NYC mayor appoints McComas to climate change panel

Reunion panel discusses value of ‘One Health’ approach

  • June 2020: Katherine McComas joined fellow Cornell faculty in discussing ‘One Health’ and its relevance for understanding and responding to Covid-19. You can watch the full recording here.

Student award and paper acceptance at AEJMC 2020

  • May 2020: Big congratulations to Cat Lambert, whose paper “Beneath our feet: Risk, dread, and the future in coverage of enhanced geothermal energy” has been accepted for presentation at this year’s (virtual) AEJMC conference and was awarded the ComSHER (Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk) Division’s 2nd Place Top Student Paper.

The “pub mug” tradition continues with a nice surprise during the May 22 RCRG meeting!

New publication on COVID-19 in Journal of Risk Research

New grant awarded

  • April 2020: Congratulations to Cat Lambert on her recent Einaudi International Research Travel Grant award to support her work on studying public engagement and risk communication related to the development of enhanced geothermal energy in Finland and the U.K.!

Leadership through communication: Navigating the COVID-19 crisis

  • March 2020: Katherine McComas participated in an eCornell webinar focusing on crisis communication and crisis management. You can watch the webinar here.

March 20, 2020

RCRG starts new tradition, the “pub mug” to celebrate a member’s publication

  • Congratulations, Cat, on your new article in Environmental Communication!

New publication in Conservation Biology

New publication in Environmental CommunicationScreenshot of the first page of the article "Earthquake Country"

New publication in Therapeutic Innovation and Regulatory Science

 

Grant awarded by Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability

  • December, 2019: Josephine Martell won a grant from the Atkinson Sustainable Biodiversity Fund to fund part of her research to test, through a national survey, which biodiversity and conservation frames are most successful at persuading the public on conservation issues in the realms of policy, advocacy, fundraising, and personal behavior change.

Special Event on Climate Change at the National Press Club

  • December, 2019: Dominic Balog-Way and co-host Sweta Chakraborty organized a special event at the historic National Press Club, Washington DC. The event was titled: Science Reporting in a Changing Climate: How Can We Do Better? Panellists included current and former journalists from The New York Times and CNN, as well as senior academics. Panellists presented their views on the title question and then debated opportunities and challenges for improving science journalism, risk communication, and policymaking in the 21st Century. The panel was followed by a lively and open discussion that was not just limited to climate change, but encompassed other pertinent scientific, technological, and risk issues relating to science journalism in the current political climate.

Clockwise from top-right: Dominic Balog-Way (Cornell University), Hank Jenkins-Smith (University of Oklahoma), Nick Pidgeon (Cardiff University), Kendra Pierre-Louis (The New York Times), Frank Sesno (George Washington University), and Sweta Chakraborty (Institute of Science and Global Policy).

New publication in Science Communication

New publication in the Journal of Risk Research

New research collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund

  • August 2019: New Research Collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund, titled: Assessing the Influence of Coastal Risk Perceptions on Responses to Climate Change

Source: EDF

With nearly 42% of the population, U.S. coastal areas could experience cumulative climate-driven damages as high as $3.6 trillion by 2100, compared to $820 billion where cost-effective adaptation measures are implemented. Although some adaptation measures must be implemented by government entities (such as barrier island restoration or beach nourishment), many others measures will be decided, funded and implemented by individuals (such as home elevation, relocation, and shoreline protection). Understanding the potential drivers to taking action in response to these challenges is this study’s central focus. Specifically, it investigates the influence of risk perceptions related to climate change on intentions to take individual action in response to coastal challenges.

Investigators: Natalie Peyronnin Snider, Science Policy Director at EDF working on coastal resilience and adaptation; Katherine McComas, Professor of Communication, Cornell, and Jason Holley, PhD candidate, Dept. of Communication, Cornell.

Investigators: Krysten Schuler, population medicine and diagnostic sciences; Katherine McComas, communication; Elizabeth Bunting, population medicine and diagnostic sciences; Brenda Hanley, population medicine and diagnostic sciences.