Research and extension activities in the past 10 years have focused on the development of strategies for the communication of complex scientific, technical and risk information to lay audiences, policy-makers and elected officials. Particular attention has been focused on developing models for presenting complex health and environmental risk information to non-scientists, and how that information is utilized, processed and integrated into decision-making. Recent work has concentrated on understanding how communities, groups and individuals get, process, exchange, and utilize complex scientific information in decision-making around environmental and health issues.
More than 100 state, national and international workshops have been presented to extension educators, policy makers, elected officials, scientists, community leaders, health professionals, journalists and others during the past several years on topics including communicating risk communication, bio-terrorism, water quality risks, food safety, environmental decision-making, communication planning and strategy development and community participation. Sponsoring organizations have included the NY State Department of Health, The Centers for Disease Control, U.S. Department of Agriculture; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service, Society for Risk Analysis and others.
Teaching includes Communication 1300 Visual Communication, Comm 4860 Risk Communication and (alternate years) Comm 6860 Risk Communication.
Have been a member of a number of state and national committees including Human Health Advisory Committee, 2004-Present, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (NOAA) , Oceans and Human Health National Advisory Panel, Food and Drug Administration, Food Safety Advisory Committee (2002-4), and Ag Biotech Implementation Task Force subcommittee on Communication Strategies, USDA, (2000-3).
